n 


STEPHEN  ALEXANDER  HUNTEP,  PH.D.LLD. 


tihvavy  of  tlie  trheolojical  ^emmarjo 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of 
Philip  H.  Waddell  Smith 


Following  Ramsay,  in  St.  Paul  the  Traveller  and  Roman  Citizen. 

By  permission  of  the  Publishers,  Messrs.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  of  New  York 

and  London. 


STUDIES  IN  THE 
BOOK  OF  REVELATION 


H    AnOKAAYVIE 


•/iWi£M^  A .  ^4iM*(fr 


c 


A 
BIBLE     SCHOOL     MANUAL 


STUDIES 

IN  THE 

BOOK  OF  REVELATION 


AX 


INTRODUCTION,  ANALYSIS,  AND  NOTES 


containing  a  concise  interpretation  according  to  the 

symbolic    view,    numerous    references    to 

authorities,  and  general  mention 

of  other  interpretations, 


with  the 

Text  of  the  American  Revised  Version  Edited  in  Paragraphs, 
for  the  use  of  Bible  Students, 

— by— 

Stephen  Alexander  Hunter,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D. 


■7' 


Copyright,  1921 
Stephen  A.  Hunter 


The  Text  of  Revelation  given  in  this  volume  is 
that  of  the  American  Standard  Edition  of  the 
Revised  Bible,  copyright  1901  by  Thomas  Nelson  & 
Sons,  and  is  used  by  permission  of  the  publishers. 


Press  of  Pittsburgh  Printing  Company, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


TO 

ALL  MY  CLASSMATES,   FRIENDS, 

AND 

FELLOW  PILGRIMS  ON  LIFe's  JOURNEY, 

FOR  WHOM  THE  BOOK   OF  REVELATION, 

TINGED  THOUGH   IT  IS  WITH  MYSTERY', 

CONTAINS  A  MANIFESTATION  OF  THE  DIVINE   PURPOSE 

IN  CREATION  AND  REDEMPTION, 

AND  A   VISION  OF  THE  FAR  GLORY  IN  THE  WORLD  BEYOND, 

THIS  VOLUME — 

WRITTEN  IN  THE  HOPE  THAT  THE  INTERPRETATION  OFFERED 

MAY  CONTRIBUTE  IN  SOME  DEGREE  TO  A  CLEARER  APPREHENSION  OF  THE  BOOK, 

AND  MAY   HELP  IN  SOME  MEASURE  TO  MAKE   ITS  MESSAGE  RICH, 

AND  SWEET,   AND  ABIDING 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  AND  AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED 
BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Map  of  Proconsular  Asia 1 

Foreword  by  James  A.  Kelso,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D 9 

Master-Thoughts  on  the  Kevelation 11 

Preface 14 

Introduction  : — 

1  General  Introduction  17 

2  The  Title    22 

3  The  Author   23 

4  The  Unity 27 

5  The  Date  30 

6  The  Place  32 

7  The  Canonicity  33 

8  The  Form 36 

9  The  Theme  40 

10  The  Occasion   41 

11  The  Purpose  42 

12  The  Interpretation   43 

13  The  Outline  Analysis 48 

14  The  Literary  Structure 49 

15  The  Literature   52 

Text  in  Paragraphs 59 

Analysis  and  Notes 91 

Appendices  : — 

A     Fundamental  Conceptions  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse      240 

B     Current  Questions  of  Divided  Opinion  ....  242 

C     Heptachords  of  Song  and  Blessing 243 

D    The  Formal  Series  of  Sevens 244 

E     The  Symbolism  of  Numbers 246 

F     The    Literary    Structure    of  the    Apoca- 
lypse— A  Diagram  253 

Gr     The  Apocalyptic  Literature 254 

H     Key   Words   and   Phrases   in  the  Revela- 
tion   266 


FOREWORD 


The  manuscript  of  this  Commentary  was  completed  several 
years  ago,  but  its  publication  was  unfortunately  deferred  until 
the  author's  health  no  longer  permitted  him  to  see  it  through  the 
press  or  even  to  be  consulted  in  regard  to  modifications.  For 
this  latter  reason  no  change  of  any  kind  has  been  made  either 
in  the  language  or  the  arrangement  of  the  material.  In  the 
bibliography  we  have  added  the  two  recent  monumental  con- 
tributions to  the  literature  on  the  Book  of  Revelation,  commen- 
taries by  I.  T.  Beckwith  and  R.  H.  Charles.  Had  the  author 
possessed  the  physical  strength  after  their  appearance,  we  feel 
sure  that  he  would  have  drawn  upon  these  two  extensive  works 
which  are  intended  for  the  use  of  technical  scholars. 

The  significance  of  Dr.  Hunter's  'Studies  in  the  Book  of 
Revelation'  lies  in  its  clear  and  accurate  presentation  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  investigation  of  modern  scholars,  in  language  which 
is  comprehensible  to  the  intelligent  reader  of  the  English  Bible. 
The  Revelation  of  St  John  has  been  an  enigma  from  the 
earliest  Christian  centuries.  On  the  one  hand,  it  has  been 
shunned  because  of  its  mysteriousness ;  on  the  other,  it  has  been 
discredited  for  sober-minded,  intelligent  Christians  by  the 
absurd  vagaries  of  its  interpreters.  Too  often  the  caprice  or 
predilection  of  the  commentator,  rather  than  impartial  study, 
has  determined  the  meaning  of  the  closing  book  of  the  New 
Testament  canon.  The  removal  of  this  reproach  has  been  one 
of  the  signal  achievements  of  the  Biblical  scholarship  of  the  last 
twenty-five  years.  Such  a  notable  result  has  been  accomplished 
by  the  discovery  and  the  interpretation  of  the  Jewish  Apocalyp- 
tic, a  type  of  literature  that  flourished  from  200  B.C.  on  for 
several  centuries.  The  Revelation  belongs  to  this  type  of  litera- 
ture. It  is  the  expression  of  a  Christian's  faith  in  the  triumph 
of  his  Lord's  kingdom  through  the  use  of  symbolism  and 
imagery  peculiar  to  Jewish  Apocalyptic  literature.  Our  author, 
in  common  with  all  modern  scholars,  has  used  this  key  for  un- 
locking the  mystery  of  the  closing  book  of  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures. By  its  employment  he  has  made  clear  the  meaning  of 
the  Revelation  to  the  open-minded  reader  of  the  English  Bible. 
On  every  page  the  work  gives  evidence  of  scholarship,  wide  in 


its  range,  and  thorough  in  its  grasp,  as  well  as  of  sanity  of  judg- 
ment in  the  discussion  of  controversial  questions.  Because  of 
these  qualities,  Dr.  Hunter's  treatise  is  worthy  of  wide  circula- 
tion. It  meets  a  special  need  at  this  time  as  it  is  especially 
adapted  to  counteract  fantastic  theories  of  interpretation  and 
theology  which  are  based  on  a  misunderstanding  of  both  the 
purpose  and  the  symbolism  of  a  New  Testament  book  that  ranks 
as  an  equal  of  the  greatest  pieces  of  imaginative  literature. 

The  proofs  have  been  read  by  Mr.  Walter  H.  Millinger,  of 
the  senior  class  of  the  Seminary,  and  the  publication  of  the  book 
has  been  made  possible  only  by  the  painstaking  effort  of  a  de- 
voted friend  and  fellow-worker  of  Dr.  Hunter,  Mr.  W.  H. 
Wicks  of  the  Pittsburgh  Printing  Company  to  whom  both  the 
author  and  the  reader  are  deeply  indebted. 


James  A.  Kelso. 


The  Western  Theological  Seminary, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      11 
Master-Thoughts  upon  the  Revelation* 

*I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Ome^a,  the  first  and  the 
last,  the  beginning  and  the  end'  (Rev.  22.13)  :— 'This 
is  the  unifying  thought  of  the  whole  book:  nay  of  the 
whole  Bible.  The  Revelation  of  St  John  is  the  meeting 
ground  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament :  what  binds  the 
long  succession  of  books — by  so  many  authors,  of  so 
many  different  ages — into  a  unity  is  expressed  by  the 
saying  that  'the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of 
prophecy.'  The  whole  of  prophetic  literature  yields  its 
imaginative  figures  to  adorn  this  final  Revelation;  all 
history  is  made  one  by  the  central  thought  of  the  kingdom 
of  the  world  becoming  the  kingdom  of  Christ. ' — Richabd 
G.  MouLTON, — in  Literature  of  the  Bible. 

'The  Book  of  Revelation  is  the  sum  of  all  prophecy. 
It  carries  the  devout  reader  to  a  height  from  which  he  can 
see  the  history  of  God's  kingdom  from  its  beginning  to 
its  consummation  in  glory.  It  is  the  sublimest  book  in  the 
Bible,  and  its  study  awakens  the  profoundest  worship.' — 
J.  M.  Stifler, — in  unpublished  Classroom  Lectures. 

'  The  Apocalypse  constitutes  the  meridian  of  Hebrew 
poetry  and  art,  embracing  in  its  individual  forms  the 
most  diverse  elements. .  .If  the  laws  of  its  construction 
be  but  recognized,  the  obscure  Book  of  Revelation  will 
present  itself  to  our  eyes  as  a  radiant  constellation,  a 
symmetrical  cathedral  built  upon  a  plan  of  perfect  clear- 
ness and  transparency.' — John  Peter  Lange, — in  Com- 
mentary on  the  Revelation. 

^The  hook  has  an  imperishable  religious  worth  be- 
cause of  the  energy  of  faith  that  finds  expression  in  it, 
and  the  splendid  certainty  of  its  conviction  that  God's 
cause  remains  always  the  best,  and  is  one  with  the  cause 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  it  is  unreasonable  to  treat  the  detail 
of  its  phantasies  as  an  authentic  source  for  a  history  of 
the  past  or  future.' — A.  Julicher, — in  Introduction  to 
the  New  Testament. 

^In  the  Apocalypse  the  emphasis  placed  upon  the 
omnipotence  of  God  rises  to  a  climax.  There  only  in  the 
New  Testament  (except  II  Cor.  6.18)  is  the  epithet 
navTOXQCXTCOQ    [All-Ruler]   ascribed  to   Him;   and   the 

*The  principal   thought   in  each  quotation   has   been  italicized  for  the   sake 
of  emphasis. 


12      STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

whole  purport  of  the  book  is  the  portrayal  of  the  Divine 
guidance  of  history,  and  the  very  essence  of  its  message 
that,  despite  all  surface  appearances,  it  is  the  hand  of 
God  that  really  directs  all  occurrences,  and  all  things  are 
hastening  to  the  end  of  His  determining ...  It  is  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  Divine  government  to  which  the  world  is 
subject  by  the  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings,  the  Ruler 
of  the  earth  and  King  of  the  nations,  whose  control  of 
all  the  occurrences  of  time  is  in  accordance  with  His  holy 
purposes,  that  it  is  the  supreme  object  of  this  book  to 
portray.' — B.  B.  Warfield, —  in  art.  'Predestination', 
Hastings'  Diet,  of  the  Bible. 

^The  Apocalypse  is  doctrinally  the  connecting  link 
hetiveen  the  Synoptists  and  the  Fourth  Gospel.  It  offers 
the  characteristic  thoughts  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  in  that 
form  of  development  which  belongs  to  the  earliest  apos- 
tolic age . . .  The  points  of  connection  between  the  Apoca- 
lypse and  the  Gospel  of  St  John  are  far  more  numerous 
than  are  suggested  by  a  first  general  comparison.  The 
main  idea  of  both  is  the  same.  Both  present  a  view  of 
a  supreme  conflict  between  the  powers  of  good  and 
evil... In  both  books  alike  Christ  is  the  central  figure. 
His  victory  is  the  end  to  which  history  and  vision  lead 
as  their  consummation.  His  Person  and  Work  are  the 
ground  of  triumph;  and  of  triumph  through  apparent 
failure.  Both  present  the  abiding  of  God  with  man  as 
the  issue  of  Christ's  work.' — Bp.  Westcott, — in  Intro- 
duction to  John's  Gospel,  Bible  Commentary. 

^In  Revelation,  as  in  John's  Gospel  and  First  Epis- 
tle, the  consciousness  of  a  ivorld-conflict,  a  world-process, 
and  a  world-triumph  is  manifest.  The  return  of  Jesus  is 
contemplated  in  relation  to  the  enlarged  environment 
in  which  Christianity  stood.  Revelation  testifies  to  the 
existence  of  the  hope  with  which  Christianity  had  begun ; 
but  also  to  the  fact  that  into  that  hope  had  centered  the 
fuller  conception  of  Christ  and  His  salvation  which  the 
apostles  had  taught,  and  the  broadened  vision  of  the  pur- 
pose of  God  which  history  had  made  clear.  Yet  it  was 
still  the  same  hope,  'Behold  He  cometh,'  and  the  prayer 
was  still  the  same,  'Come  Lord  Jesus'.' — George  T.  Pur- 
VEs, — in  The  Apostolic  Age. 

^The  fundamental  concepiion  of  the  booh  is  neither 
human  weakness  upon  the  one  hand  nor  divine  power 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      13 

upon  the  other,  but  divine  poiver  victorious  through  ap- 
parent human  weakness,  life  triumphant  over  death.' — 
William  Milligan, — in  Discussions  on  the  Apocalypse. 

'However  long  the  conflict,  this  hook  assures  us  of 
the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Lamh.  That  figure  suggests 
Incarnation  in  order  to  Redemption ;  and  the  description 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  shows  us  Light  and  Life  reign- 
ing eternally  because  the  Lamb  is  'the  lamp  thereof'.' — 
Matthew  B.  Riddle, — in  unpublished  Classroom  Lec- 
tures. 

'  St  John  knew  himself  to  be  a  prophet,  and  his  writ- 
ing to  be  a  prophecy ;  that  he  was  commanded  to  consign 
his  visions  to  a  book  was  an  assurance  to  him  that  their 
purpose  would  not  be  fulfilled  in  one  generation  or  two. 
He  sees  the  book  going  down  to  posterity,  and  like  the 
Deuteronomist  he  endeavors  to  guard  it  against  inter- 
polation and  excision.  As  he  writes  the  last  words  upon 
the  papyrus  roll  that  lies  upon  his  knee,  the  conviction 
dawns  upon  him  that  the  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  was 
given  for  the  warning  and  comfort  of  the  whole  church 
to  the  end  of  time.' — Henry  B.  Swete, — in  The  Apoca^ 
lypse  of  St  John. 

^The  author  of  this  great  hook  has  hequeathed  to 
mankind  a  xtfj|Aa  e?  aei.  an  imperishable  possession, 
the  worth  of  which  lies  in  the  splendid  energy  of  its  faith, 
in  the  unfaltering  certainty  that  God's  own  cause  is  at 
issue  now  and  here  and  must  ultimately  prevail,  and  that 
the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ  is  inseparably  linked  therewith, 
and  the  main  aim  of  which,  as  is  clear  from  every  page, 
is  to  emphasize  the  overwhelming  worth  of  things  spir- 
itual as  contrasted  with  things  material,  and  in  the  next 
place  to  glorify  martyrdom,  to  encourage  the  faithful 
to  face  death  with  constancy,  nay  more,  with  rapturous 
joy.' — R.  H.  Charles, — in  Studies  in  the  Apocalypse. 

The  closing  book  of  the  New  Testament  with  its  pro- 
phetic outlook  and  divine  forecast,  leaves  us  in  the  at- 
titude of  expectancy : — 'Looking  for  that  blessed  hope 
and  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great  God  and  our 
Savior  Jesus  Christ.' — The  Epistle  to  Titus,  Ch.  2 :13. 


14      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


PREFACE 


The  purpose  of  this  volume  is  to  present  in  concise  form  the 
general  thought  and  meaning  of  the  Book  of  Revelation,  to  give 
an  analytic  view  of  its  contents,  and  to  summarize  the  results  of 
critical  study.  It  is  intended  both  as  an  aid  to  interpretation, 
and  as  a  guide  to  the  use  of  the  many  valuable  commentaries 
which  are  now  accessible  to  the  English  reader.  It  is  specially 
designed  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  student  in  the  theological 
seminary  or  the  modern  Bible  school,  the  busy  pastor  in  his 
field,  the  teacher  of  adult  Bible  classes,  the  Christian  Association 
worker,  and  the  general  reader  of  the  Bible.  With  this  object 
in  view  it  essays  to  provide  in  a  direct  and  helpful  form  (i)  the 
essential  points  of  Introduction;  (2)  an  Analytic  Study  of  the 
book  which  aims  to  discover  its  meaning  as  a  whole  rather  than 
to  deal  with  it  text  by  text;  and  (3)  a  brief  statement  in  a  series 
of  Appendices  of  some  of  the  underlying  conceptions  which  give 
color  to  its  thought  and  enter  into  its  literary  structure. 

The  increased  impetus  given  to  Biblical  study  by  advanced 
scholarship  in  late  years  has  created  a  demand  for  a  class  of 
works  that  give  the  results  attained  by  the  masters  of  exegesis 
and  critical  research,  without  attempting  to  give  the  various 
steps  by  which  these  results  have  been  reached.  And  it  is  one 
primary  aim  of  this  work,  while  attempting  to  give  a  fresh  state- 
ment of  the  teachings  of  the  book,  and  to  present  such  thoughts 
as  have  come  to  the  Author  in  the  course  of  extended  study,  at 
the  same  time  to  give  due  consideration  to  the  varying  opinions 
of  others,  and  for  the  most  part  to  reproduce  in  the  form  which 
these  have  taken  in  his  own  mind  the  best  and  most  satisfactory 
explanations  of  the  many  difificulties  in  the  book  which  have 
hitherto  been  given  by  leading  scholars  and  commentators.  For 
the  book  has  proved  a  fertile  field  for  expositors  that  has  been 
widely  even  if  not  always  well  worked  in  the  past,  while  in  the 
last  half-century  really  substantial  progress  has  been  made 
toward  the  general  interpretation;  and  it  may  be  confidently 
assumed  that  any  one  who  ignores  these  results  has  almost  cer- 
tainly nothing  to  contribute  to  the  solution  of  the  real  difficulties 
that  confront  us.  In  response  to  extended  popular  inquiry 
some    excellent    commentaries    and    expository    works    on    the 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      15 

Revelation  have  been  prepared  in  late  years  for  the  general 
reader.  And  it  is  in  order  to  further  meet  this  requirement  of 
intelligent  Bible  study,  and  to  contribute  in  some  measure  to 
what  is  believed  to  be  one  of  the  most  common  needs  of  the 
general  student  of  Scripture,  a  comprehensive  view  of  each 
book,  that  the  publication  of  the  present  Studies  in  the  Book  of 
Revelation  has  been  undertaken. 

It  is  necessarily  true  that  a  work  so  largely  poetical  in  its 
thought  as  the  Apocalypse,  and  appealing  so  much  to  the 
imagination,  does  not  lend  itself  easily  to  logical  analysis.  Every 
such  division,  if  exhaustive,  must  be  in  a  measure  arbitrary. 
The  main  purpose  in  attempting  it  is  to  present  the  principal 
ideas  of  the  book  in  what  is  conceived  to  be  their  proper  relation. 
And  in  this  we  need  not  assume  that  the  particular  outline  which 
we  adopt  was  formally  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  It  is  quite 
enough  if  we  can  be  assured  that  the  formative  ideas  were  con- 
ceived of  in  somewhat  the  same  relation,  and  that  the  analysis 
we  accept  at  least  measurably  represents  the  author's  point  of 
view.  This  form  of  statement  enables  us  to  grasp  the  contents 
of  the  book  in  their  entirety  and  to  retain  them  in  memory. 

The  view  presented  in  the  Analysis  and  Notes  of  this  volume 
is  not  intended  to  be  controversial  but  interpretative.  Hence 
other  views  of  particular  passages  have  often  not  been  stated,  or 
are  given  only  in  foot-notes,  and  no  special  effort  has  been  made 
to  support  the  view  given  by  any  extended  discussions,  as  that 
would  lead  us  too  far  afield  for  the  purpose  in  mind.  For  those 
who  wish  a  wider  view,  references  are  given  to  well-known 
authorities.  Much  that  might  have  been  said  has  been  left  out 
for  the  sake  of  brevity;  for  in  this  busy  age  few  find  time  for 
extended  study,  and  the  great  works  on  the  Revelation  often  lie 
unread  on  the  shelves.  To  reach  the  man  of  this  generation  the 
message  must  be  short,  clear,  and  decisive.  And  with  this  in 
view  the  chief  aim  is  to  show  that  the  general  meaning  of  the 
Revelation  can  be  clearly  understood,  whatever  difference  of 
opinion  there  may  be  concerning  the  more  difficult  portions;  and 
as  a  contribution  toward  this  end  to  give  in  a  direct  form  what 
the  Author  of  the  present  work  regards  as  the  correct  method  of 
interpreting  it.  Other  interpretations  have  been  introduced 
where  they  serve  to  illustrate  this  main  purpose,  or  have  special 
force  and  afford  additional  light,  or  have  been  widely  accepted 
and  have  affected  the  course  of  opinion.     The  outline  interpreta- 


16      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

tion  given  in  this  work,  while  it  does  not  follow  without  devia- 
tion any  particular  view  throughout  or  in  every  respect — for  a 
blind  acceptance  of  any  one  method  of  interpretation  would  often 
block  the  path  to  better  knowledge,  and  perhaps  cause  us  to  miss 
the  real  meaning — yet  it  accepts  the  principles  of  the  Symbolical 
or  Spiritual  School  as  affording  in  the  main  the  best  solution  of 
the  problems  of  interpretation.  The  authorities  cited  in  connec- 
tion with  any  passage,  when  not  quoted,  though  they  may  differ 
somewhat  in  statement,  will  be  found  to  hold  in  some  form  the 
view  given  in  the  analysis. 

It  is  not  without  considerable  hesitation,  and  a  personal 
sense  of  the  shortcomings  of  the  present  work,  that  it  is  now 
given  to  the  public.  It  necessarily  contains  much  that  is  already 
familiar  to  the  reader,  and  it  should  be  regarded  as  an  effort  to 
present  in  concise  form  and  in  one's  own  way  what  has  been 
gathered  through  many  years  of  patient  study,  and  by  constant 
comparison  with  the  works  of  the  best  commentators,  together 
with  such  thoughts  as  have  come  to  the  Author  in  the  course  of 
his  inquiry.  And  if  thereby  the  reader  should  be  in  any  measure 
led  to  a  clearer  understanding  or  a  more  careful  study  of  this 
marvellously  beautiful  and  strangely  eloquent  message  of  Christ 
to  his  church  which  is  contained  in  the  Book  of  Revelation — 
the  meaning  of  which  has  been  too  often  misunderstood  by  the 
Christian  reader,  or  passed  by  as  an  insoluble  mystery, — it  will 
be  to  the  Author  an  abundant  reward  for  his  effort  and  a  cause 
for  personal  gratitude  to  Almighty  God. 

Stephen  A.  Hunter, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.      17 


INTRODUCTION 


1.     General  Introduction. 

The  Eevelation  is  the  most  difficult  book  to  interpret 
of  any  in  the  New  Testament  canon.  Its  meaning  is  often 
involved  in  much  obscurity,  and  the  interpretation  of 
eminent  scholars  has  differed  so  widely  in  the  past  that 
we  cannot  always  be  sure,  especially  in  the  more  diffi- 
cult portions,  that  the  particular  view  which  appears  to 
us  the  more  satisfactory  or  convincing  is  certainly  the 
correct  one.  This  divergence  of  opinion  has  had  the  un- 
fortunate effect  of  disparaging  the  worth  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse as  a  part  of  the  Word  of  God  in  the  mind  of  many 
earnest  students,  who  have  come  to  regard  its  meaning  as 
so  obscure,  and  hidden  in  such  hopeless  perplexity,  that 
any  further  attempt  to  interpret  it  is  entirely  fruitless. 
So  much,  too,  has  been  written  about  the  book  which 
abounds  in  manifest  vagaries  that  men  of  sober  mind 
have  often  been  thereby  deterred  from  forming  or  ex- 
pressing any  definite  opinion  concerning  its  teaching. 
Indeed  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  the  Revelation  has 
suffered  more  in  the  hands  of  expositors  by  means  of 
fanciful  and  mistaken  interpretation  of  its  true  contents, 
or  by  the  interpolation  of  ideas  wholly  foreign  to  its 
thought.  But,  however  brought  about,  we  have  reached 
this  strangely  incongruous  result,  that  what  was  original- 
ly designed  to  be  the  revelation  of  mystery  has  become 
instead  the  mystery  of  Revelation. 

There  is  evident  necessity,  therefore,  of  particular 
care  in  forming  our  views  with  regard  to  the  meaning  of 
many  portions  of  the  book,  and  also  of  often  holding  our 
opinions  tentatively  and  subject  to  review,  especially  in 
our  earlier  studies,  as  probable  rather  than  positive  in- 
terpretations. We  should  avoid  alike  the  mistake  of  dog- 
'matically  asserting  that  the  Apocalypse  cannot  be  under- 
stood at  all,  or  of  affirming  that  it  can  be  fully  under- 
stood.^ And  yet  with  this  reservation  in  mind  the  book 
is  still  a  rich  mine  of  spiritual  wealth,  much  of  which  lies 
upon  the  surface,  while  even  its  deeper  mysteries  abun- 
dantly reward  our  careful  search.   For  we  are  not  justi- 

I'To  pretend  to  have  found  an  answer  to  every  question  raised  by  the 
Apocalypse  is  the  opposite  of  science'  Jiilicher.  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  291  ;  also 
cf.   Warfleld,   art.   'Revelation,'   Schaff-Herzog  Enc. 


18      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

fied  in  casting  aside  any  part  of  divine  revelation  upon 
the  plea  of  apparent  obscurity;  and  to  do  so  is  practi- 
cally to  deny  that  it  is  a  revelation.  On  the  contrary  we 
are  under  manifest  obligation  to  interpret  the  message 
of  the  Apocalypse  so  far  as  we  can,  for  to  fail  of  this  is 
to  neglect  the  sure  word  of  prophecy.  And  even  though 
the  original  meaning  of  the  visions  to  John's  mind,  and 
the  interpretation  given  them  by  those  to  whom  they 
were  first  made  known,  oftentimes  cannot  now  be  defi- 
nitely determined,^  yet  the  value  of  the  book  does  not  de- 
pend solely  upon  that,  however  helpful  it  would  be.  The 
matter  of  supreme  importance  for  us  is  to  apprehend 
aright  the  far-seeing  and  ulterior  purpose  in  the  mind  of 
the  Spirit  in  giving  the  Revelation.  And  in  search  for 
this  we  should  not  allow  our  zeal  for  the  original  inter- 
pretation to  lead  us  to  forget  the  significant  lesson  of 
the  Old  Testament,  that  the  primary  teaching  of  proph- 
ecy has  often  not  voiced  its  deeper  message,  that  God's 
thought  has  mostly  proved  wider  than  man's  first  appre- 
hension; so  that  in  our  reading  of  the  prophets  we  are 
not  limited  to  the  primary  application,  however  im- 
portant it  may  be,  but  should  strive  rather  to  grasp  the 
broader  sweep  and  deeper  thought  made  plain  by  the 
fuller  development  of  the  divine  purpose — the  general 
meaning  for  the  whole  church  in  all  time  rather  than  the 
particular  meaning  for  one  age  or  generation.  This  con- 
sideration we  will  find  of  great  value  in  dealing  with  the 
generic  and  flexile  forms  of  imagery  contained  in  the 
symbols  of  the  Apocalypse,  where  in  attending  to  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  detail  the  deeper  and  broader  thought  may 
so  easily  be  misapprehended  or  even  entirely  escape  our 
notice. 

The  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  are  generally  con- 
ceded to  belong  to  the  latter  part  of  the  first  century,  and 
manifestly  relate  in  main  portion  to  the  then  future, 
whether  near  or  far,  of  the  church  of  Christ  in  the  world, 
for  they  pertain  to  a  profoundly  impressive  prophetic  ex- 
perience. The  divine  path  of  God's  people  among  the  na- 
tions is  beheld  in  symbol,  type,  and  figure,  ever  leading 
on  to  victory  through  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  and  our  Lord; 
the  church  and  the  world  are  seen  engaged  in  a  multiform 

^That  meaning  for  the  most  part,  as  I^arrar  has  forcibly  said  concerning 
the  portion  of  the  book  which  relates  to  the  earthly  and  historic  future,  'is  irrev- 
ocably lost  for  us,  and  in  point  of  fact  has  never  been  known  to  any  age  of 
the  church — not  even  to  the  earliest,  not  even,  so  far  as  our  records  go,  to 
Irenaeus  the  hearer  of  Polycarp,  or  to  Polycarp  the  hearer  of  St.  John.'  Early 
Days  of  Christianity,  p.  528. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      19 

and  deadly  conflict,  while  the  consummation  is  depicted 
in  the  fall  of  evil  and  the  ruin  of  nature  wrought  by  sin ; 
and  the  triumph  of  the  holy  is  set  forth  in  a  vision  of 
complete  restoration  to  the  divine  presence  amid  the 
beauty  of  a  new  world  and  the  glories  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem— an  outcome  never  once  in  doubt,  for  God  rules 
through  all  and  wins.  And  though  in  this  ever  changing 
picture  the  conditions  of  the  early  church  and  of  the  first 
century  are  constantly  reflected  in  every  part,  yet  the 
representative  character  of  the  whole  may  be  clearly 
seen.  Indeed  one  cannot  but  be  impressed  with  the  fine 
insight  and  spirit  of  reserve  which  is  manifested  by  John 
throughout  the  book,  in  avoiding  such  explanations  as 
might  serve  to  narrow  the  visions  to  a  purely  local  and 
temporary  perspective,  thereby  evidencing  that  he  had 
risen  to  a  truly  prophetic  view,  and  that  to  his  mind  the 
visions  belonged  to  a  wider  horizon  as  well  as  to  the  near- 
er limit  of  his  own  day.  For  whatever  application  or  ful- 
filment these  may  have  had,  and  surely  did  have,  in  the 
period  in  which  they  were  given,  has  not  exhausted  their 
meaning.  To  the  ear  that  is  open  to  God's  voice  they 
have  a  lesson  and  significance  that  belong  alike  to  the 
past,  the  present,  and  the  future,  a  perennial  freshness 
that  time  can  neither  fade  nor  destroy,  for  they  mani- 
fest the  principles  of  the  divine  government  which  abide 
for  all  the  ages. 

In  the  light  of  modern  criticism  the  primary  ques- 
tion to  be  decided  is  whether  we  are  dealing  with  an  or- 
dinary Jewish-Christian  apocalypse  of  similiar  value 
with  a  multitude  of  others  in  the  past,  and  with  no  es- 
sentially deeper  meaning  or  diviner  message ;  or  whether 
we  have  not  in  the  Apocalypse  of  John  a  true  revelation, 
given  in  this  literary  form  because  of  its  particular  suita- 
bility to  the  condition  of  the  time,  and  its  fitness  for  the 
needs  of  the  ^generation  that  first  received  it.  And  the 
answer  to  this  question  must  be  sought  in  the  contents 
of  the  book  itself  as  vindicated  by  the  Christian  con- 
science— an  answer  that  the  church  has  never  been  slow 
to  make,  and  that  never  can  be  changed  so  long  as  the 
needs  of  the  human  heart  remain  the  same.  We  must 
therefore  regard  the  fundamental  question  which  lies 
vback  of  that  of  interpretation,  viz.  the  inspiration  of  the 
book  itself,  which  alone  can  give  it  permanent  value  to 
the  Christian  mind,  as  definitely  settled  by  the  clear  mes- 
sage which  it  contains  for  life,  by  the  multitudinous  voices 


20      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

of  God  which  reverberate  within  it,  and  by  the  heaven- 
born  solace  which  it  ever  affords  to  tried  and  tempted 
men  in  the  midst  of  the  conflict  of  life.  And  we  shall  find 
that  the  general  meaning,  so  far  from  being  hopelessly 
obscure,  may  be  fairly  understood  by  the  attentive  stu- 
dent and  devout  reader. 

The  obscurity  of  the  Revelation  arises  both  from  its 
literary  form  and  from  the  mystical  character  of  its  con- 
tents. The  Apocalyptic  form  is  so  foreign  to  our  way  of 
thinking,  and  the  mysticism  is  so  peculiarly  Oriental  and 
Jewish,  that  these  are  apt  to  perplex  rather  than  enlight- 
en us.  The  Apocalyptist,  deeply  absorbed  in  the  later 
prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  especially  those  of 
Daniel  and  Ezekiel,  and  his  mind  steeped  in  the  dreams 
and  images  of  current  Jew^ish  apocalypses,  found  under 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit  a  fitting  sphere  for  his  proph- 
etic fervor  in  a  series  of  strange  symbolic  visions  such  as 
belonged  to  the  fashion  of  his  time.  The  chief  symbolism 
throughout  is  that  of  the  Old  Testament,  quickened 
and  vivified  by  the  thought  of  the  New, — for  it  is  ev- 
erywhere assumed  that  the  mysteries  of  the  former  dis- 
pensation find  their  only  adequate  solution  in  the  supreme 
and  final  testimony  of  Jesus  the  Christ, — ^  but  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  visions  is  that  of  Apocalyptic,  which 
curiously  enough  has  contrived  to  cast  its  own  peculiar 
glow  upon  all  the  Old  Testament  teachings  and  thus  cre- 
ate a  new  symbolism  out  of  the  old.  And  even  when  many 
of  the  symbols  are  assumed  to  be  drawn  in  their  present 
form  from  apocalypses  then  current  in  the  Jewish  world 
but  which  are  no  longer  extant,  and  these  to  be  derived 
in  part  from  Babylonian  and  Persian  sources,  as  held  by 
one  class  of  interpreters,  they  are  yet  found  to  have  be- 
come so  assimilated  by  the  Jewish  mind  that  they  reflect 
the  later  development  of  Old  Testament  thought.  These 
visions  of  the  seer,  like  shadows  cast  upon  the  foreground 
of  the  future,  depict  in  outline  great  fundamental  truths 
or  pervasive  principles  of  the  divine  government  that 
are,  and  are  to  be,  manifested  in  multiple  facts  in  the 
progress  of  the  ages.  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  visions 
to  disclose  the  facts  themselves,  for  that  belongs  to  the 
development  of  history,  but  rather  to  furnish  the 
means  for  interpreting  the  facts,  when  once  they  appear, 
by  the  exalted  standard  of  the  divine  ideals.   There  are, 

*Monlt.on,    Mod.    Bead.    Bib.,    vol.    Rev.,    notes,    p.    192 ;    also    cf.    Rev.    ch. 
19.  10,  'The  testimony  of  Jesus  Is  the  spirit  of  prophecy.' 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATIQN.      21 

indeed,  a  few  cardinal  facts  of  the  future  that  are  kept 
well  in  the  foreground,  such  as  the  second  coming  of 
Christ,  the  triumph  of  God's  kingdom,  and  the  end  of  the 
present  world;  but  these  belong  to  the  content  of  pre- 
vious revelation  as  well,  and  are  not  new  or  peculiar  to 
this  book.  The  content  of  the  visions  is  generic  and  not 
specific,  and  whenever  we  depart  from  broad  generali- 
zation and  attempt  to  enter  into  detail  in  our  interpreta- 
tion, we  destroy  the  beauty  and  force  of  the  lesson  con- 
veyed, and  wander  into  the  field  of  speculation  concern- 
ing things  that  were  never  intended  to  be  revealed,  if  the 
analogy  of  all  other  prophecy  can  be  relied  upon  as  a 
guide. ^  For  though  the  Apocalypse  undoubtedly  con- 
tains an  element  of  predictive  prophecy,  yet  such  proph- 
ecy is  not  history  written  before  its  time,  but  a  divine- 
ly inspired  and  profoundly  discriminative  pre-view  of 
certain  dominant  issues  in  the  future  that  belong  to  the 
purpose  of  God,  and  are  the  resultant  of  well  established 
principles  of  the  divine  government — issues  that  stand 
out  to  the  prophet's  illumined  eye  in  bold  relief  against 
the  sky-line  like  the  headlands  of  a  continent  amid  the 
surrounding  mists  which  envelop  them. 

Prophecy  in  this  view  is  looked  upon  as  much  broad- 
er in  its  scope  than  the  /o  retelling  of  things  that  are  fu- 
ture. This  element  should  be  regarded  as  subordinate  to 
the  general  purpose  of  prophecy,  which  is  the  forthtell- 
ing  of  the  mind  of  God.^  And  we  should  avoid  that 
'dwarfed  sense  of  the  word  prophecy  in  modern  speech' 
which  leads  most  readers  (and  even  interpreters)  to  fast- 
en upon  a  revelation  of  the  secrets  of  the  future.  For  it  is 
evident  that  'Old  Testament  history  and  prophecy  make 
prominent  another  kind  of  revelation — the  unveiling  of 
the  ideal,  as  when  the  pattern  of  things  sacred  was  un- 
folded to  Moses  in  the  mount '.^  In  the  true  sense  of 
prophecy  it  manifestly  contains  both  these  conceptions, 
viz.  the  Prophetico-predictive,  and  the  Prophetico-ideal, 
which  enter  in  varying  proportion  into  the  great  mes- 
sages of  old.  But  it  is  believed  by  many  of  our  best  au- 
thorities, and  it  will  be  found  in  a  careful  study  of  the 

I'ln  interpreting  symbolism,  as  in  all  the  higher  forms  of  allegory,  the 
first  critical  requirement  is  restraint.  Even  with  such  a  poet  as  Spenser  it  is 
only  a  rude  exegesis  which  identifies  a  particular  personage  with  a  definite  Idea  : 
in  the  more  mystic  symbolism  of  the  present  poem  (Revelation)  it  is  a  viola- 
tion of  true  literary  taste  to  seek  a  meaning  for  every  detail  of  complex  presen- 
tation.'    Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib.  Rev.,  p.   192,  notes. 

-Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  2. 

^Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  Rev.,  Intr.  p.  xx. 


22      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION. 

book  of  Revelation,  that  the  prophetic  element  is  not 
chiefly  predictive  in  the  strict  sense,  and  can  for  the  most 
part  be  best  interpreted  as  the  unveiling  of  the  divine 
ideal  which  is  being  inwrought  in  the  sphere  of  human 
life,  or  the  manifestation  of  the  divine  purpose  which  is 
discovered  as  interpenetrating  all  the  moral  struggle  and 
apparent  contradictions  of  earthly  experience,  and  which 
is  leading  up  to  the  final  victory;  and  only  such  glimpses 
of  the  future  are  given  as  serve  to  assure  a  better  compre- 
hension of  this  main  idea.^ 

The  two  most  obvious  principles  that  pervade  the 
book  of  Revelation  and  underlie  its  ever  changing  scenes, 
are,  first,  God's  method  of  government  in  the  world  by 
the  trial  of  his  people  and  the  judgment  of  the  wicked; 
and,  second,  God's  method  of  developing  character  in 
moral  agents  by  moral  conflict.  Accepting  these  as  in  a 
measure  interpretative  of  the  ways  of  God  with  men, 
the  Apocalypse  approaches  the  standpoint  of  the  divine 
perspective,  and  traces  the  great  lines  of  the  divine  pur- 
pose as  they  traverse  the  entire  field  of  human  history. 
It  makes  Christ's  relation  to  his  people  both  in  time  and 
in  eternity  the  ground  of  an  exhaustive  inquiry  into  the 
mysteries  of  earthly  life,  which  aims  not  only  to  discover 
God  in  the  trend  of  history  but  also  to  interpret  God 
through  history  wrought  out  to  its  end.  It  affords 
glimpses  of  God's  far  reaching  plan  in  the  process  of 
redemption,  leading  up  to  the  final  salvation  of  unnum- 
bered multitudes;  it  finds  the  key  to  earth's  long-drawn- 
out  story  of  sin  and  suffering,  of  conflict  and  of  death, 
in  wider  victory  at  larger  cost;  and  it  teaches  us  to  look 
calmly  out  beyond  the  ebb  and  flow  of  tides  and  noons  to 
the  shoreless,  timeless  life  that  ever  abides  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  To  the  heart  of  faith  it  speaks  of  an  un- 
wavering trust  when  days  are  dark  and  storms  fill  the 
sky ;  like  a  clear  voice  out  of  the  night  it  tells  of  the  com- 
ing day ;  and  with  persuasive  force  its  visions  bring  man 
face  to  face  with  God,  his  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Eter- 
nal Friend. 

2.     The  Title. 

The  Title  used  in  the  Authorized  Version  of  our  Eng- 
lish Scriptures,  and  retained  by  the  English  Revisers, 

^Cf.  Davidson,  art.  'Prophecy',  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.;  also  see  Scott,  on 
the  distinction  between  'Prophecy'  and  'Apocalyptic,'  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Intr.  to 
Rev.,  p.  26 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.      23 

is  'The  Revelation  of  St  John  the  Divine,'  a  name  given 
to  the  book  by  the  early  church,  though  many  of  the  older 
manuscripts  omit  'the  Divine'.  Our  American  Revisers 
read, '  The  Revelation  of  John ; '  but  the  more  correct  title 
is  the  one  that  is  commonly  used,  and  that  is  printed  in 
the  upper  margin  of  the  text,  simply  'The  Revelation,' 
i.  e.  the  unveiling,  or  uncovering  [viz.  of  the  mystery  of 
the  divine  purpose  and  method  in  human  life  and  his- 
tory]— the  opening  words  of  the  book  itself — or,  if  pre- 
ferred, the  original  Greek  name,  'The  Apocalypse',^ 
which  perhaps  should  have  been  retained  without  trans- 
lation as  in  the  Douay  Version,  but  of  which  '  The  Reve- 
lation' is  the  exact  equivalent.  The  phrase  'of  St.  John', 
or  'of  John',  may  properly  be  omitted  because  of  its  am- 
biguity; for  the  book  is  declared  in  its  opening  sentence 
to  be  'the  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ',  i.  e.  a  revelation 
of  or  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  is  only  in  a  secondary 
sense  'the  Revelation  of  John',  i.  e.  a  revelation  made  to 
and  recorded  by  John.  The  occasion  for  the  use  of  this 
title,  'The  Revelation  of  St  John',  in  the  first  centuries 
was  in  order  to  distinguish  the  canonical  Apocalypse 
from  many  others  then  in  circulation,  but  this"  necessity 
has  long  since  ceased  to  exist.  For  us  it  stands  alone,  it 
is  the  Apocalypse,  the  Revelation. 

3.     The  Author. 

That  the  Author  of  the  Revelation  was  named  John 
we  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  if  we  believe  the  statements 
of  the  book  itself,  for  this  is  distinctly  affirmed  three 
different  times.^  He  is  also  further  described  in  one  form 
of  the  title  as  'the  Divine,'  i.  e.  the  one  who  discoursed 
about  God,  or  the  theologian.  This  latter  desig-nation, 
though  of  uncertain  origin  and  date,  and  omitted  by  the 
American  Revisers  as  without  sufficient  support,  is  yet 
undoubtedly  as  old  as  the  latter  part  of  the  third  cen- 
tury^ while  it  may  be  much  older,  and  has  therefore  some 

I'The  term  apocalypse  signifies  in  the  first  place  the  act  of  uncovering, 
and  thus  bringing  into  sight  that  which  was  before  unseen,   hence  a  revelation 

An  apocalypse  is  thus  primarily  the  act  of  revelation:  in  the  second  place 

it  is  the  subject-matter  revealed  ;  and  in  the  third  place  a  book  or  literary  pro- 
duction which   gives   an  account   of   revelation   whether  real   or  alleged The 

term  apocalypse  is  sometimes  used,  with  an  effort  at  greater  precision,  to 
designate  the  pictorial  portraiture  of  the  future  as  foreshadowed  by  the  seer. 
(In  this  sense  it  denotes  the  literary  style  in  which  the  writing  is  couched)  .... 
Thus  an  apocalypse  becomes  a  form  of  literature  precisely  in  the  same  manner 
as  an  epistle.'  Zenos,  art  'Apoc.  Lit..'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Chr.  and  Gosp. 

2Chs.  1.4:  4.8;  and  22.8.  We  may  omit  ch.  21.2  (following  the  Revisers) 
as  without  suSicient  authority. 

''The    Divine   as   a    title   for    St   John is  certainly  as  old  as  Eusebius : 

(Praep.  Evan,  xi  18).,  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  1. 


24      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

claim  to  traditional  authority.  The  title,  however,  in  any 
form  is  subsequent  to  the  book  itself.  The  statements 
of  the  Author  concerning  himself  and  his  relations  to  the 
church  in  Asia,  appear  to  the  general  reader  to  be  de- 
cisive, and  to  indicate  with  sufficient  clearness  that  the 
writer  was  none  other  than  John  the  son  of  Zebedee,  the 
apostle  whom  Jesus  loved,  though  this  is  not  the  view 
of  the  majority  of  the  later  critics.  Some  consider  it  to  be 
the  work  of  another  John  known  to  tradition  as  the  Pres- 
byter;^ others  attribute  it  to  an  unknown  author  of  that 
name,  or  to  some  one  writing  under  that  name.  But  not- 
withstanding the  frequency  and  positiveness  with  which 
the  Apostolic  Authorship  and  the  Unity  of  the  Book  have 
been  called  in  question  during  the  last  half  century,  the 
entire  results  of  critical  research  may  with  some  confi- 
dence be  said  not  to  have  discredited  either  of  them.^ 

The  considerations  which  support  the  Apostolic 
Authorship  are  chiefly  the  following: — (1)  the  evidence 
of  early  Christian  tradition  imbedded  in  history  is  practi- 
cally unanimous  in  its  favor,  and  the  book  was  accepted 
as  the  Apostle's  without  question  by  the  church  in  Asia 
where  it  originated:  (2)  the  internal  evidence  is  to  most 
minds  convincing  and  even  decisive,  viz.  (a)  the  Author 
declares  himself  to  be  John,  and  addresses  the  churches 
in  Asia  as  their  'brother,  and  partaker  in  tribulation,^ 
and  there  is  no  satisfactory  historical  evidence  of  any 
other  John  in  Asia,  except  the  Apostle,  of  sufficient 
standing  and  influence  to  have  spoken  to  the  churches 
with  the  authority  of  a  prophet;^  (b)  there  is  a  deep  and 
essential  similarity  of  thought,  diction,  and  doctrine  in 
the  Apocalypse  and  in  John's  Gospel  and  Epistles  which 
outweighs  all  differences  of  language,  grammar,  and 
style  that  appear  upon  the  surface;  (c)  there  is  an  under- 

>So    Llicke,    Bleek,    Diisterdieck,    Jiilicher,    and   others. 

^Dods'  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  pp.  244-47  :  Salmon's  Intr..  p.  203f ;  Bacon's 
Intr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  2S0f ;  Swete.  Apoc.  St.  John,  Intr.,  p.  clxxf ;  and  Milli- 
gan's  Discuss,  on  Apoc,  ch's.  II  and  IV.  Also,  see  Simcox  on  Rev.,  Cambr.  Qr. 
Test.,  'Excnr.  Ill,'  for  a  brief  anaylsls  of  the  theories  of  composite  authorship 
advanced  by  Vischer  and  Volter :  Warfleld,  Presb.  Review,  Ap.  '84,  p.  228,  in 
reply  to  Volter ;  Moffatt,  Expositor,  Mar.  '09.  'Wellhausen  and  Others  on  Apoc' ; 
and  same  author,  'Intr  to  Rev.',  Exp.  Or.  lest.,  vol.  V.  pp.  202-94  : 

^The  theory  current  among  modern  critics  of  two  Johns  in  Asia,  or  else  of 
identifying  the  traditional  John  of  Ephesus  with  the  hypothetical  .lohn  the 
Presbyter,  has  a  very  slender  foundation.  'The  existence  of  thi.s  second  John, 
the  Presbyter,  if  he  really  did  exist,  rests  upon  a  single  line  of  an  extract  from 
Papias,  a  writer  of  the  second  century.'  Sanday's  Criticism  of  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
p.  16.  'Either  John  (the  Apostle)  wrote  it  (the  Revelation),  or  John  was  never 
at  Ephesus.'  Iloltzman,  quoted  in  'Intr.  to  Rev."  New  Cent.  Bib.,  p.  36.  For  an 
interesting  discussion  of  'the  two  Johns,'  see  'Excur.  XIV'  in  Farrar's  Early 
Days  of  Christianiti/ ;  also  Smith,  'Intr.  to  Ep's  of  John'  Exp.  Or.  Test.,  vol.  V, 
pp.    158-62  ;   and    Strong,    art.    'John,   Apostle,'    Hastings'   Diet,   of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      25 

current  'tragic  tone'  found  in  the  Apocalypse,  such  as  is 
manifest  in  all  of  John's  writings,  especially  when  he 
deals  with  the  sad  and  terrible  phases  of  human  life  and 
character,  and  this  serves  to  point  toward  the  Apostle  as 
the  author. 

The  grounds  upon  which  the  Apostolic  Authorship 
is  denied  are: — (1)  the  general  inconclusiveness  of  tradi- 
tion, even  though  in  this  case  the  evidence  is  admitted 
to  be  particularly  strong:  (2)  the  pseudonymity  of  all 
other  apocalypses,  with  the  apparent  exception  of  'The 
Shepherd  of  Hermas',  and  hence  the  probability  that  this 
in  a  similar  way  may  have  been  written  under  the  as- 
sumed name  of  John  in  order  to  give  it  acceptance:^  (3) 
the  marked  differences  observable  between  the  Apoca- 
lypse and  John's  Gospel  and  Epistles,  viz.  (a)  the  Greek 
of  the  Apocalypse  is  full  of  striking  peculiarities,  of  sole- 
cisms, and  of  Hebraisms,  quite  at  variance  with  the  purer 
style  of  the  other  Johannine  writings  ;2  (b)  the  spirit  of 
the  Apocalypse  as  revealed  in  its  ideas,  terms,  tone,  and 
temper,  differs  widely  from  that  of  the  Gospel  and  Epis- 
tles. These  differences,  however,  it  should  be  noted,  were 
recognized  and  their  force  as  objections  to  a  common 
authorship  was  felt  as  early  as  the  time  of  Dionysius 
(circ.  A.  D.  260),  for  they  are  apparent  to  every  careful 
student  of  the  Greek  text ;  but  they  may  be  accounted  for 
in  a  good  degree  by  the  difference  of  occasion,  purpose, 
and  theme,  as  well  as  of  form  and  structure  incident  to 
the  choice  of  a  literary  style  that  has  definite  and  neces- 
sary limitations.  The  differences  have  also  been  further 
accounted  for  on  the  part  of  some  by  accepting  the  earlier 
date  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  in  that  case  is  assigned  to 
the  period  just  preceding  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  The 
peculiarities  of  language  are  in  this  view  attributable  to 
an  imperfect  knowledge  of  Greek,  which  was  later  over- 
come by  John'slong  residence  in  Ephesus,  while  the  apoc- 
alyptic form  and  general  contents  are  held  to  indicate 
an  earlier  stage  of  Christian  thought.^  On  the  other  hand 

iThis  view  that  the  Apocalypse  is  pseudonymous  is  now,  however,  for  the 
most  part  being  given  up.  With  the  revival  of  prophecy  under  the  influence  of 
the  life  and  teachings  of  Christ,  'it  is  only  what  we  would  expect  when  the 
primitive  Christian  prophet,  a  John,  or  a  Hermas,  disdains  the  pseudonymity  of 
his  Jewish  rivals.'  Bacon's  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  234  ;  also  see  New  Cent.  Bib., 
Rev.,  Intr.,  p.  32. 

-Charles  points  out  the  many  Hebraisms  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  says  of  the 
author,  'While  he  writes  in  Greek  he  thinks  in  Hebrew,  and  the  thought  has 
naturally  affected  the  vehicle  of  expression.  ...  He  never  mastered  Greek  idio- 
matically...  .to  him  many  of  its  particles  were  apparently  unknown.'  Studies 
in  Apoc.,  p.   82 

'Bp.  Wescott,  'Intr.  to  John's  Gospel',  Bih.  Com.,  pp.  Ixxxiv-vii ;  cf.  Swete's 
discussion  of  this  view,  Apoc.  St.  John',  'Authorship',  pp.  clxxviii-ix. 


26      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

it  has  been  efficiently  maintained,  favoring  the  later 
date,  that  the  differences  are  mainly  due  to  psychologi- 
cal effects  wrought  by  old  age  in  the  mind  of  John,  whose 
mental  activities  reverted  to  the  familiar  thought-forms 
and  apocatyptic  conceptions  of  his  youth,  the  Greek  he 
used  being  simply  a  modified  translation  of  Hebrew 
thought,  while  the  Christological  conceptions  of  the 
Apocalypse  are  manifestly  among  the  most  advanced  in 
the  New  Testament.^  In  any  case  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
reasons  given  under  (1)  and  (2)  have  little  force  apart 
from  the  question  of  internal  evidence,  and  are  at  most 
only  inferences,  while  upon  the  other  hand  the  divergent 
qualities  given  under  (3),  forceful  as  they  are,  cannot  be 
assumed  as  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  literature. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  difference  in  style  be- 
tween Carlyle's  earlier  and  later  productions,  as  well  as 
those  found  in  the  works  of  Milton,  Watts,  Burke,  and 
Wordsworth,  written  at  different  periods  in  their  lives, 
is  quite  as  marked  as  that  of  the  writings  in  question.^ 
And  we  must  not  leave  out  of  view  the  possibility  that 
John,  if  at  an  advanced  age,  may  have  used  one  of  his 
disciples  as  a  collaborator,  which  would  necessarily  modi- 
fy both  the  language  and  style  of  the  work  produced.  So 
that  after  all  has  been  said,  it  may  be  accepted  as  the  con- 
current judgment  of  the  majority  of  interpreters, — the 
advanced  critics  being  excepted, — that  as  great  or  great- 
er difficulties  are  met  in  denying  the  Apostolic  Author- 
ship as  in  accepting  it.  For  notwithstanding  the  con- 
fident assertion  of  most  of  the  later  critics  that  the  Apoc- 
alypse was  not  written  by  the  Apostle,  yet  indications 
are  not  lacking  in  some  quarters  now,  influenced  perhaps 
by  the  really  cogent  arguments  so  well  stated  by 
the  decadent  school  of  Baur,  of  a  return  in  opinion  to  the 
recognition  of  the  Johannine  authorship  as  in  some  sense 
at  least  undeniable,  though  foreign  elements  are  con- 
ceived to  enter  into  it.^  It  has  indeed,  not  infrequently 
been  held,  among  those  who  deny  that  the  Apostle  was  the 
author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  that  he  wrote  the  Apoca- 
lypse; but  still  more  commonly  it  is  accepted  that  the 
work  belongs  to  the  'so-called  Johannine  writings',  and 
originated  in  the  same  circle  at  Ephesus  to  which  these 

iProf.  M.  B.  Riddle,  unpublished  Class-room  Lects.  on  Rev. 
^Reynolds,  'Intr.  to  Gosp.  of  John,'  Pulp.  Com.,  p.  Ixvii. 
'See  Bacon's  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  pp.   136-38  ;   Briggs'   Messiah  of  the  Apostles, 
p.  301 ;  and  tentatively,   Swete,  Apoc.   St  John,  'Authorship,'    pp.    clxxx-xxxl. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      27 

writings  are  now  attributed  by  advanced  critics,^  leaving 
the  personal  authorship  more  or  less  indefinite.  The 
question  of  authorship,  however,  is  a  subordinate  one, 
for  the  book  maintains  its  own  message,  and  it  should  be 
dealt  with  purely  as  a  subject  of  historical  inquiry  and 
not  one  of  dogmatic  importance,  in  the  interest  of  cor- 
rectness rather  than  of  traditional  opinion. 

4.     The  Unity. 

The  question  of  Unity  is  one  of  modern  literary  criti- 
cism.    The   view   now   generally   accepted   that   Jewish 
apocalypses,  as  we  find  them,  are  often  of  composite  ori- 
gin, representing  an  original  writing  to  which  various 
additions  have  been  subsequently  made  by  editors  and 
redactors,-  has   had   its    influence   upon   the    judgment 
formed  by  critics  concerning  the  Apocalypse  of  John. 
The  present  tendency  of  critical  investigation  is  to  con- 
sider the  book  as  a  composite  structure,  and  to  direct  its 
effort  toward  searching  out  the  various  sources  from 
which  it  is  supposed  to  be  derived,  and  determining  what 
parts  of  the  book  are  original,  as  well  as  in  pointing  out 
various  minor  passages  that  are  regarded  as  drawn  from 
other  sources,  or  are  the  work  of  a  later  hand.    This 
tendency  has  been  carried  to  such  an  extreme  that  the  re- 
sults are  largely  theoretical  and  inconclusive,  depending 
upon  the  personal  taste  of  the  critic  and  having  little 
force  for  other  minds.  The  grounds  upon  w^hich  the  unity 
of  the  book  has  been  disputed  are: — (1)  Frequent  breaks 
in  continuity  w^hich  make  it  difficult  or  impossible  to  trace 
the  connection  of  thought:  (2)  a  lack  of  harmony  in  its 
various  conceptions  that  is  more  or  less  incongruous,  and 
that  is  apparently  inconsistent  with  its  being  the  work  of 
one  author:  (3)  an  apparent  indication  in  various  parts 
of  the  book  of  different  dates  of  writing — see  remarks  in 
the  section  on  Date.  All  of  these  reasons,  however,  if  tak- 
en together,  and  it  be  granted  that  they  are  well-founded, 
are  yet  insufficient  to  establish  a  diversity  of  authorship. 
The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  they  suggest  it.  For  it 
should  be  remembered  that  logical  sequence  is  not  a  quali- 
ty of  Apocalyptic  thought ;  and  also  that  there  is  not  even 
an   approximate    agreement,    as   yet,    among   advanced 
scholars  as  to  the  character  or  extent  of  the  material  re- 
garded as  drawn  from  other  sources. 

^Cf.  Jiilicher's  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  chapter  on  the  'Johannine  Problem,' 
='More   than   any   other    class   of   writings    they   show   signs   of   having   been 
edited  and  modified.'  Zenos,  art.  'Apoc.  Lit.,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Chr.  and  Gosp. 


28      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

In  favor  of  its  Unity  we  find: — (1)  a  uniformity  of 
style  throughout  which  is  scarcely  possible  in  the  com- 
bined product  of  different  authors  without  such  redaction 
as  is  equivalent  to  authorship:  (2)  an  elaborate  literary 
structure  quite  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  more 
than  one  author — see  section  on  Structure:  (3)  an  es- 
sential Unity,  whatever  the  extent  to  which  elements  of 
Jewish  apocalyptic  may  have  been  made  use  of  in  its  com- 
position, which  appeals  to  the  literary  judgment  in  a  way 
that  is  both  forcible  and  convincing,  for  the  personality 
of  the  author  is  interwoven  in  every  fibre  of  its  frame. 
Though  the  present  trend  of  critical  opinion  is  largely 
against  the  Unity  of  the  book  in  the  general  sense  of  the 
term,  yet  its  essential  unity  is  so  manifest  that  it  is  com- 
monly conceded — 'its  inner  unity  is  the  foundation  of  all 
more  recent  works  on  the  Apocalypse'.^  This  is  accounted 
for  on  the  part  of  those  who  accept  a  composite  origin 
by  attributing  its  unification  to  the  final  editor,  redactor, 
or  author,  a  judgment  that  fails  to  carry  conviction  with 
it  for  those  who  approach  the  question  from  the  broader 
standpoint  of  literary  composition  in  general,  instead  of 
the  narrower  one  of  the  apocalyptic  writings.  The  later 
critical  views  have,  however,  not  yet  reached  a  conclusive 
stage,  and  indeed  in  the  face  of  so  great  diversity  of  judg- 
ment, can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  assumed  a  consistent 
form;  though  it  may  be  confidently  predicated  that  no 
hypothesis  of  composite  origin  is  ever  likely  to  command 
general  assent  in  the  case  of  a  book  marked  by  such  a 
definite  unity  of  style  and  plan.  The  effort  to  discover  in 
it  an  original  Jewish  apocalypse  which  has  been  wrought 
over  by  Christian  editors  into  its  present  form,-  or  to  re- 
construct the  various  sources,  Jewish  or  Christian,  from 
which  it  has  been  derived,^  may  well  be  said  to  have  been 
thoroughly  worked  out',  and  to  have  apparently  failed, 
though  the  labors  of  the  critics  have  added  largely  to  our 
knowledge  of  Apocalyptic,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to 
a  better  understanding  of  the  book.  The  view  now  in  the 
ascendant  admits  one  author,  but  attributes  various  por- 
tions of  greater  or  less  extent  to  a  common  stock  of  Jew- 
ish, or  Jewish-Christian,  apocalyptic  fragments,  current 

'Holtzmanu,  quoted  in  New  Cent.  Bib. ;  'Substantially  it  bears  the  marks  of 
composition  by  a  single  pen  ;  the  blend  of  original  writing  and  editorial  re-set- 
ting does  not  impair  the  impression  of  a  literary  unity.'  Moffatt,  Ea-p.  Or.  Test., 
Rev.,  Intr.,  p.  288. 

^As  by  Vischer,   Harnack,   and  others. 

»As  by  Volter,   Spitta,  Pfleiderer,  Briggs.  and  others. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.       29 

at  that  time,  which  have  been  appropriated  from  and 
used  in  its  composition.^  This,  to  the  more  conservative 
Christian  mind,  involves  an  apparent  denial  of  its  true 
unity,  and  proceeds  upon  a  theory  of  its  origin  that  is 
scarcely  consistent  with  its  effective  inspiration.  But  it 
fails  to  be  conclusive  on  other  grounds,  for  upon  careful 
examination  it  must  become  more  and  more  apparent  to 
the  thoughtful  student  of  Scripture  and  apocalyptic  that 
this  view  does  not  accord  with  the  author's  use  of  his  ma- 
terials, so  far  as  we  have  any  knowledge  of  their  source. 
For  although  he  draws  largely  from  the  thought  and  fig- 
ures of  the  prophets,  and  uses  freely  the  general  form  of 
imagery  found  in  extant  Jewish  apocalypses,  yet  every- 
thing has  been  transmuted  in  the  crucible  of  his  own  vivid 
imagination  into  new  combinations,  and  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle instance  in  which  he  interpolates  an  entire  passage 
from  any  known  author — indeed  there  are  no  quotations 
at  all,  in  the  strict  sense,  found  in  the  Apocalypse,  but  on- 
ly allusions,  reminiscences,  and  echoes,  literary  devices 
which  reflect  the  thought  without  reproducing  the  form — 
and  it  is  certainly  an  exceptional  assumption  that  he  in- 
terpolates only  from  authors  whose  works  are  now  lost, 
or  from  sources  furnished  solely  by  tradition.^  The  im- 
pressions of  unity  are  entirely  too  strong  to  be  dissipated 
by  visionary  and  purely  theoretical  views. 

A  modified  form  of  the  Apocalyptic-Traditional 
view,  advanced  by  some  late  writers,^  indicates  a  health- 
ful reaction  from  the  piecemeal  theories  of  the  earlier 
source-criticism,  and  affords  valuable  suggestion  for  fur- 
ther study — whether,  indeed,  we  can  follow  them  or  not  in 
finding  evidence  of  the  introduction  of  a  limited  number 
of  fragments  of  earlier  origin, — ^viz.  that  the  author  drew 
freely  from  a  mass  of  apocalyptic  ideas  and  forms,  or 
'apocalyptic  conventions'  as  they  have  been  called,  which 
were  widely  current  in  Jewish  circles,  and  with  which  his 
own  mind  was  richly  stored ;  and  that  this  suggestive  ma- 
terial was  wrought  over  in  his  mental  processes  and  used 
like  that  from  the  Old  Testament,  with  which  it  was  close- 
ly allied,  as  a  framework  for  expressing  the  new  and  high- 
er Christian  thought  peculiar  to  his  message,  the  old  form 

lAs  by  Weizsacker,  .Tiilicher,  Bousset,  Moffatt.  and  others.  For  a  short 
consensus  of  modern  theories  see  Ejcp.  Gr.  Test.,  Kev.,  Intr.,  pp.  292-94,  which 
affords  a  good  illustration  of  wide  and  extravagant  guessing. 

"This  objection  to  the  modern  critical  view  is  one  of  evident  force,  and  de- 
serves thoughtful  consideration.,  Cf..  Swete's  Apoc.  of  8t  John,  Intr.,  pp.  xllx 
and  cliii,  which  maintains  the  literary  unity  of  the  book. 

^As  Porter,   Scott,  and  others,  following  the  lead  of  SchoQ. 


30      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION. 

being  constantly  adapted  to  new  meanings.  The  origin  or 
source  of  these  forms  is  chiefly  a  matter  of  theory;  but 
the  probability  of  their  use  is  the  more  practical  side  of 
the  problem.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  view  would  account 
for  all  that  the  theory  of  diverse  origin  does  without  do- 
ing violence  to  the  real  unity  of  the  book;^  and  it  does  not 
affect  the  question  of  the  inspiration  or  reality  of  the  vi- 
sions, for  the  thought  of  the  seer  necessarily  took  form 
from  his  own  mental  furnishing,  and  his  imagination, 
though  quickened  by  the  prophetic  ecstasy,  was  not  es- 
sentially altered  in  its  mode  of  operation.  But,  with  it 
all,  let  us  not  fail  to  apprehend  that  these  questions  per- 
taining to  the  method  used  in  the  composition  of  the 
Apocalypse,  and  to  the  introduction  of  foreign  elements 
into  its  literary  structure,  which  so  largely  occupy  the 
minds  of  critical  scholars  in  the  present  day,  are,  after 
all,  mainly  secondary  to  the  larger  question.  In  it  has 
God  spoken?  And  if  so,  what  are  the  spiritual  lessons 
of  the  book  for  the  devout  Christian  mind  and  heart  ? 

5.     The  Date. 

Two  different  Dates  of  authorship  have  been  com- 
monly maintained  by  different  authorities,  viz.  either 
about  A.  D.  69  under  one  of  Nero's  immediate  successors, 
Galba  or  Vespasian;  or  about  A.  D.  96  under  Domitian. 
Many  modern  critics  have  accepted  the  earlier  date, 
though  the  majority  of  commentators  favor  the  later  and 
traditional  one.  The  evidence  cannot  be  considered  as  de- 
cisive for  either,  but  the  preponderance  seems  to  be  in  fa- 
vor of  the  later  date.^  The  earlier  date,  though  accepted 
by  the  majority  of  critics  a  score  and  more  years  ago,  is 
not  now  in  such  favor.  The  influence  of  present  criticism, 
which  is  chiefly  taken  up  with  discussion  of  the  sources 
from  which  the  book  is  assumed  to  be  derived,  has  pro- 
duced a  marked  drift  in  opinion  toward  the  acceptance  of 
a  date  near  the  close  of  the  first  century  (the  traditional 
view)  as  the  time  of  composition,  or  at  least  the  period 
of  final  editing.^  This  view,  though  accepting  in  a  sense 
one  author,  yet  holds  that  the  contents  of  the  book  indi- 
cate different  dates  of  writing,  and  that  it  is  made  up  of 

»See  Porter's  article  'Revelation,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.;  and  Scott's  Intr. 
to  Rev.,  Neio  Cent.  liih. 

-Ct.  Reynolds,  Intr.  to  John's  Gosp..  Pulpit  Com.,  p.  Ixvii ;  Riddle,  S.  S. 
Times,  Jun.  1,  1901  ;  and  Burton,  in  Records  and  Letters  of  the  Apost.  Age, 
nates,  p.  220. 

3'The  common  opinion  has  returned  to  the  traditional  date,  the  closing  years 
of  Domitian's  reign   (81-96).'  Votaw,  "Apoc.  of  John'  Biblical  World,  Nov.   1908. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      31 

visions  of  different  origin,  and  composed  at  different 
times,  which  have  been  subsequently  formed  into  one 
consistent  whole^ — a  conclusion  that  would  require  some- 
thing more  than  a  theory  to  sustain  it.  The  exact  date, 
however,  is  not  of  any  great  importance,  as  the  difference 
does  not  materially  affect  the  interpretation,  especially 
if  we  accept  the  symbolic  view  of  the  purpose  and  teach- 
ing of  the  book;  for  though  the  date  fixed  upon  does 
affect  somewhat  the  historical  situation,  and  hence  the 
immediate  reference,  it  does  not  affect  the  larger  mean- 
ing which  belongs  to  all  time. 

The  indications  of  the  Earlier  Date  that  usually  ob- 
tain are: — (1)  the  linguistic  peculiarities  already  refer- 
red to  under  the  head  of  Unity,  which  are  considered  by 
many  to  indicate  an  earlier  period  in  John's  life  and 
thought  when  he  was  still  Hebraistic  in  method:  (2)  the 
historical  allusions  in  the  book  that  seem  to  favor  the  ear- 
lier date,  and  which  some  have  thought  are  even  decisive, 
viz.  (a)  the  condition  of  the  churches  in  Asia  as  set  forth 
in  the  Seven  Epistles,  which  fairly  accords  with  what  is 
known  of  the  period  of  Nero 's  reign  and  shortly  thereaf- 
ter; (b)  the  references  to  persecution,  war,  earthquake, 
famine,  and  pestilence,  which  find  a  ready  explanation 
in  current  events  of  the  earlier  date;^  (c)  the  measure- 
ment of  the  temple  directed  in  ch.  11  :lf.,  which  appears 
to  indicate  that  it  was  still  standing;  (d)  the  apparently 
veiled  allusions  to  Nero  found  in  the  description  of  the 
Wild  Beast  in  chs.  13  and  17,  which,  according  to  a  wide- 
ly accepted  interpretation,  point  to  a  period  shortly  after 
his  death,  when  he  was  still  a  prominent  figure  in  the  pub- 
lic mind. 

For  the  Later  Date  the  chief  considerations  are: — 
(1)  the  early  and  uniform  tradition  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  book,  viz.  that  it  was  written  by  the  Apostle  John 
near  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Domitian  (see  the  section  on 
Canonicity) :  (2)  the  historical  situation  described  and 
implied,  which  as  a  whole  is  considered  by  most  authori- 
ties as  more  suitable  to  and  more  fully  met  by  the  later 
than  the  earlier  date,  viz.  (a)  the  churches  in  Asia,  as  in- 
dicated in  the  Seven  Epistles,  are  in  a  more  highly  de- 
veloped condition  than  is  likely  to  have  been  attained  at 
so  early  a  period  as  the  close  of  the  sixth  decade  of  the 

^See    Weizs'acker's  Apostolic  Aye.    vol.    ii.    pp.    173-205 :    also   Moffatt's   Hist. 
New  Test.,  p.   45f. 

^Cf.    Farrar,    Early   Days   of   Christianity,   pp.   510-13f. 


32      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

Christian  era,  and  the  omission  of  any  reference  to  the 
Apostle  Paul  as  their  founder  within  a  quarter-century 
of  their  establishment  would  be  entirely  unaccountable; 
(b)  the  indications  of  persecution  are  better  suited  to  the 
time  of  Domitian  than  that  of  Nero/  while  the  references 
to  war,  famine,  and  pestilence  are  equally  applicable  to 
all  the  latter  part  of  the  first  century;  (c)  the  advanced 
stage  of  the  conflict  between  Christianity  and  the  state 
religion  of  Rome,  shown  in  the  worship  of  the  Beast  and 
the  antagonism  of  Babylon,  is  a  strong  indication  of  the 
later  date;^  (d)  the  assumed  allusions  to  Nero,  and  to  the 
temple  as  still  standing,  depend  in  each  case  upon  a 
particular  interpretation,  and  rest  upon  no  certain  foun- 
dation,— or  admitting  an  earlier  date  for  this  section,  it  is 
regarded  as  having  been  inserted  later,^  which  is  a  criti- 
cal guess  of  uncertain  value.  This  seems  to  leave  the  bal- 
ance of  evidence  upon  the  side  of  the  later  date,  though 
the  best  authorities  have  formerly  been  nearly  equally  di- 
vided. 

6.     The  Place. 

The  Revelation  was  given  in  Patmos,  one  of  the 
group  of  the  Sporades,  a  small,  rocky,  and  irregularly 
shaped  island,  some  ten  miles  long  by  five  miles  wide,  ly- 
ing in  the  ^gean  Sea,  off  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  about 
sixty  miles  from  Ephesus  and  thirty-five  miles  from  Mile- 
tus,^ to  which  John  was  banished  'for  the  Word  of  God 
and  the  testimony  of  Jesus'."  According  to  tradition  of- 
fenders of  rank  were  banished  to  this  island  under  the 
Roman  Empire  to  work  in  the  mines  and  marble  quarries ; 
and  the  Apostle  John  perhaps  shared  in  this  harsh  lot 
during  his  imprisonment,  as  asserted  by  Victorinus  in  his 
commentary,  the  earliest  work  on  the  Apocalypse,  writ- 

^'Noro's  massacre  was  a  freak  of  personal  violence,'  and  'had  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  imperial  cultus."  Moffatt.  Exp.  Or.  Test..  Rev..  Intr..  p.  310. 
Mommsen's  view  (Prov.  Rom.  Emp.,  vol.  il.  pp.  214-17  note)  is  that  the  historical 
.situation  reflected  in  the  Apocalypse  indicates  That  it  was  written  after  Nero".s 
fall,  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  :  and  that  the  references  to  persecution 
imply  a  regular  judicial  procedure  on  account  of  refusal  to  worship  the  em- 
peror's imase,  a  feature  quite  different  from  the  Neronian  period  in  which  the 
executions  on  the  ground  of  alleged  incendiarism  &c..  do  not  formally  belong  to 
the  class  of  religious  processes  at  all.  He  would  not.  however,  date  it  so  late 
as  Domitian,  preferring  a  date  somewhere  between  A.  D.  69  and  79,  toward  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  Bartlett  puts  the  probable  date  about  A.  D.  75- 
80  (see  his  Apost.  Aye,  p.  404).  Such  views  of  the  date  are  interesting  but 
exceptional. 

=The  book  seems  to  mark  a  transition  in  the  Roman  Empire  from  tolerance 
to  hostility,  when  it  began  to  insist  upon  idolatrous  worship,  and  that  more 
properly  belongs  to  a  period  later  than  the  time  of  Nero.  Cf.  Mommsen's  view 
in  the  preceding  note. 

'See  'Rev.  and  Johan.  Epist.,'  by  A.  Ramsay,  Westmin.  New  Test.,  p.  8. 

■•See  map  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION.      33 

ten  toward  the  close  of  the  third  century.  The  chief  fea- 
ture of  the  modern  island  is  the  Monastery  of  St  John, 
founded  in  A.  D.  1088,  which  lies  a  mile  and  a  half  south 
of  La  Scala,  the  landing  place ;  while  halfway  up  the  hill- 
side a  grotto,  known  as  the  cave  of  the  Apocalypse,  is 
pointed  out  as  the  traditional  place  where  the  visions  of 
the  book  were  seen.  The  natural  scenery  of  the  island  is 
rugged  and  the  view  of  the  sea  and  of  the  neighboring  is- 
lands very  fine,  which  may  have  contributed  somewhat 
to  the  imagery  of  the  book,  as  has  been  suggested  by 
diiferent  travelers.^  \The  content  of  the  visions  was 
doubtless  committed  to  writing  soon  afterward,  and 
probably  while  John  was  still  a  prisoner  in  Patmos, 
though  the  general  work  of  authorship  may  have  been 
done  later  at  Ephesus.^ 

7.     The  Canonicity. 

The  right  of  the  Book  of  Kevelation  to  a  place  in  the 
New  Testament  Canon  is  well  attested  both  historically 
and  by  internal  evidence.  The  historical  evidence  is  es- 
pecially complete,  and  is  regarded  by  some  as  stronger 
than  that  of  any  other  book  in  the  New  Testament  :^  the 
objections  have  all  arisen  from  the  internal  evidence, 
which  has  been  differently  estimated  by  different  minds. 

The  Historical  Evidence  covers  the  question  both  of 
authorship  and  of  canonicity, — for  these  cannot  well  be 
separated,  since  the  apostolic  authorship  carried  with  it 
for  the  early  church  the  canonicity  also — and  it  may  be 
briefly  stated  as  follows,  viz: — 

(1)  Papias  (circ.  A.  D.  130).  Bishop  of  Hierapolis, 
'the  hearer  of  John',  and  'the  companion  of  Polycarp', 
regarded  it  as  authoritative,  and  is  the  first  to  attest  it, 
though  he  does  not  affirm  its  apostolicity.  We  are  in- 
debted for  his  testimony  to  Andreas  of  Cappadocia 
(about  the  end  of  the  fifth  century),  who  refers  to  Papias 
along  with  Irenteus  and  others,  and  quotes  from  a  work 
by  Papias  his  comment  on  Rev.  12:7-9.  In  this  early 
witness  of  its  canonicity  we   can  scarcely  conceive  of 

^Cf.  Dean  Stanley's  'Sermons  in  the  East,'  p.  230,  quoted  in  Bib.  Com.,  Intr., 
sec.  4. 

2'Xhe  extreme  skepticism  which  denies  even  the  presence  of  the  Apostle  in 
Ephesus  (as  Keim  and  others),  is  purely  modern.  The  tradition  of  the  sur- 
vival of  'the  beloved  disciple'  in  Ephesus  'down  to  the  times  of  Trajan'  is  wide- 
spread, uncontradicted,  circumstantial.  ..  .the  counter  evidence  is  trivial' 
(Bacon's  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  231).  'The  proof  given  by  Irenseus  from  Polycarp 

is    more    than    tradition,    it    is   direct   documentary    evidence'    (Weizsacker, 

Apost.  Af/e,  vol.  ii,  p.   168). 

3Cf.  Reynolds,  art.  'John,  the  Gospel  of,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.;  also  Lee 
Intr.   to   Rev.,  Bib.   Com. 


34      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.  

Papias  being  mistaken,  and  his  testimony  is  of  great 
value. 

(2)  Justin  Martyr  (circ.  A.  D.  140)  says  it  was  writ- 
ten by  '  a  certain  man  whose  name  was  John,  one  of  the 
apostles  of  Christ'.  This  testimony  is  within  fifty  years 
of  the  later  date  assigned  to  the  book,  and  seventy-five 
years  of  the  earlier  one,  and  is  therefore  of  special  im- 
portance ;  and  there  is  no  hesitancy  in  affirming  that  the 
author  was  'one  of  the  apostles  of  Christ'. 

(3)  According  to  Eusebius,  Melito,  Bp.  of  Sardis 
(circ.  A.  D.  170),  wrote  a  lost  work  on  'the  Revelation  of 
John';  also  two  other  bishops,  Theophilus  of  Antioch, 
and  Appolonius  of  Ephesus  (both  before  the  close  of  the 
second  century),  cited  from  it  in  their  writings. 

(4)  In  a  letter  from  the  churches  of  Lyons  and  Vi- 
enne  (circ.  A.  D.  177)  the  Revelation  is  cited,  and  is  de- 
scribed as  'sacred  Scripture'. 

(5)  Irenseus  (circ.  A.  D.  180)  defends  its  apostolic 
authority,  and  asserts  frequently  and  positively  that  the 
Apocalypse  was  written  by  'John,  a  disciple  of  the  Lord'. 

(6)  Clement  of  Alexandria  (circ.  A.  D.  200) refers 
to  the  four  and  twenty  elders  with  an  explanatory  clause, 
'as  John  says  in  the  Apocalypse'. 

(7)  Tertullian  (circ.  A.  D.  200)  cites  it  frequently, 
ascribing  it  to  John  the  Apostle,  and  attests  its  recogni- 
tion in  Africa. 

(8)  The  Canon  of  Muratori  (circ.  200)  includes  it 
without  question,  and  says,  'John  in  the  Apocalypse, 
though  he  writes  to  the  Seven  Churches,  yet  says  to  all, 
&c,'  and  the  context  shows  that  the  reference  is  to  the 
Apostle. 

(9)  Hippolytus  (circ.  A.  D.  210)  wrote  on  'the  Gospel 
and  Apocalypse  of  John';  and  he  also  cites  the  Apoca- 
lypse as  a  Scripture  authority  against  Caius.  After  this 
time  its  canonicity  was  regarded  as  established  by  the 
Western  Church. 

(10)  Origen  (circ.  A.  D.  250),  the  pupil  of  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  and  the  first  textual  critic  of  the  New 
Testament,  whose  knowledge  of  the  opinion  and  usage  in 
different  parts  of  the  church  was  very  wide,  knows  of  no 
doubts  concerning  the  Apocalypse,  but  quotes  it  as  the 
recognized  composition  of  the  Apostle  and  Evangelist. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION.      35 

The  authority  of  the  Apocalypse  was  not,  however, 
destined  to  remain  unquestioned,  though  its  apostolic 
authorship  and  canonical  right  were  practically  unchal- 
lenged until  toward  the  end  of  the  second  century — and 
in  fact  it  was  generally  received  by  the  church  until  the 
middle  of  the  third  century — but  subsequently  both  of 
these  were  questioned,  viz: — 

(1)  Marcion,  the  so-called  'Heretic'  (circ.  A.  D.  150), 
rejected  it  in  forming  his  Canon  because  of  its  apparently 
Jewish  character,  and  not  because  he  did  not  regard  it  as 
genuine.  This,  however,  did  not  represent  a  church  view, 
and  had  little  influence  on  opinion  outside  of  his  own  sect. 

(2)  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  (circ.  A.  D.  247)  argues 
that  it  is  not  by  the  Apostle,  though  he  does  not  reject  the 
book.  With  him  the  question  is  mainly  one  of  authorship, 
and  not  of  canonicity. 

(3)  Eusebius  (circ.  A.  D.  270)  follows  the  opinion  of 
Dionysius  and  may  be  regarded  as  'wavering',  for  he 
cites  much  in  its  favor.  After  Eusebius,  however,  opposi- 
tion to  it  became  general  in  the  Syro-Palestinian  Church, 
and  it  does  not  appear  in  the  Peshito  Version,  though  St 
Ephraim  Syrus,  the  chief  father  of  the  Syrian  Church, 
cites  it  and  ascribes  it  to  the  Apostle  John. 

(4)  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  (circ.  A.  D.  386)  omits  the 
Apocalypse  from  his  list  of  the  canonical  books  of  the 
New  Testament. 

(5)  In  the  Eastern  Church  the  book  was  questioned 
on  dogmatic  grounds  connected  with  the  Millenarian  con- 
troversy, and  it  was  omitted  from  the  Canon  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Laodicea  (circ.  A.  D.  360). 

(6)  Finally,  however,  in  deference  to  the  strong  testi- 
mony of  the  Western  Church,  and  influenced  somewhat, 
no  doubt,  by  the  internal  evidence  of  the  book  itself,  it 
was  authoritatively  accepted  and  universally  recognized 
by  the  church  at  large. 

The  Internal  Evidence  for  the  canonicity  of  the  book, 
a.part  from  the  difficulties  discussed  under  the  head  of 
Unity,  is  quite  clear  and  satisfying  and  is  practically  ir- 
refutable, for  the  disputed  questions  of  authorship  and 
date  are  not  of  such  character  as  to  affect  its  canonicity. 
This  evidence  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows,  viz: — 

(1)  The  historical  situation  and  references  corre- 
spond to  the  time  in  which  the  book  claims  to  have  been 


36      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

written,  the  latter  half  of  the  first  century,  and  are  fully 
sustained  by  contemporaneous  history. 

(2)  The  literary  form  and  diction  are  each  suitable 
to  the  period  and  authorship  to  which  the  book  is  ascribed. 

(3)  The  doctrinal  teachings  are  fully  and  distinctive- 
ly Christian,  and  are  such  as  we  would  expect  in  a  work 
of  the  period,  written  by  inspiration  for  the  whole  church, 
viz: —  (a)  the  Christianity  it  bears  witness  to  has  escaped 
from  the  particularism  of  Jewish  thought  into  the  broad 
catholicity  of  the  Pauline  Epistles;  (b)  Christ  is  pre- 
sented as  the  divine  atoning  Lamb  seated  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne,  co-equal  with  the  Father;  (c)  the  personality 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  recognized,  and  his  illuminative 
work  illustrated;  (d)  the  chief  duties  of  the  Christian  life 
are  those  presented  in  the  Gospels,  faith,  witness,  and 
purity,  while  the  reward  of  overcoming  is  set  forth  in 
terms  of  apostolic  hope ;  and  (e)  the  entire  contents  of  the 
book,  so  widely  different  from  the  non-canonical  litera- 
ture, appeal  to  the  instincts  of  the  Christian  heart  now  as 
in  the  first  generation,  and  verify  themselves  afresh  to 
the  Christian  consciousness  in  such  a  forceful  and  con- 
vincing way  that  this  goes  far  to  overcome  any  apparent 
objections  to  its  canonical  authority  based  upon  subjec- 
tive judgments  of  another  class.  In  fact  the  impartial 
verdict  of  careful  investigation  serves  to  confirm  the 
opinion  that  the  Apocalypse  is  rightfully  received  on  am- 
ple and  concurrent  testimony  both  of  Historical  and  In- 
ternal Evidence  as  a  part  of  sacred  Scripture  by  the 
whole  church  throughout  the  world. 

8.     The  Form. 

The  Book  consists  of  a  series  of  strange  and  impres- 
sive symbolic  visions  which  contrast  present  and  historic 
conditions  of  trial  and  suffering  in  the  church  and  in  the 
world  with  future  and  prophetic  conditions  of  triumph 
and  reward  for  the  holy  and  of  wrath  and  punishment 
for  the  sinful.  It  is  an  interpretative  view  of  the  divine 
path  and  plan  of  the  centuries  that  is  evidently  given  for 
the  comfort  and  help  of  God's  children  in  the  midst  of 
trial  and  distress.  Its  Literary  Form  is  marked  and  sig- 
nificant, and  belongs  to  that  highly  figurative  style  of 
late  Jewish  and  early  Christian  writings  which  is  known 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      37 

as  the  Apocalyptic  Literature.^  And  though  John  must 
often  have  felt  himself  hampered  and  impeded  by  the  fan- 
ciful and  more  or  less  unreal  character  of  this  literary 
form,  yet  it  doubtless  met  more  fully  than  any  other  the 
conditions  of  the  time,  and  afforded  an  adequate  method 
of  reaching  the  devout  Christian  mind  of  that  generation. 
This  literature  is  distinguished  both  by  its  peculiar 
style  and  by  the  exceptional  range  of  its  thought,  and  may 
be  described  as  consisting  of  all  of  that  particular  class  of 
the  Apocryphal  writings  which  are  couched  in  mystic 
symbols  and  figures,  and  which  attempt  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  hidden  things  miraculously  disclosed,  especial- 
ly those  pertaining  to  the  other  world  and  to  the  closing 
events  of  human  history.  The  word  Apocalyptic  in  its 
present  sense  belongs  to  recent  usage,  being  introduced 
by  the  modern  critical  school  as  a  generic  term  to  desig- 
nate these  writings  as  a  distinct  department  of  the  Apoc- 
ryphal books,  and  also  to  denote  the  literary  style  or  art- 
form  in  which  they  are  cast.  The  use  of  the  word  Apoca- 
lypse to  designate  the  writings  or  books  now  known  by 
that  name  (as  the  Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  and  others)  is 
undoubtedly  very  old,  though  it  did  not  apparently  be- 
gin before  the  end  of  the  first  century,  and  seems  to  have 
taken  rise  from  the  common  use  of  the  title  '  The  Apoca- 
lypse of  John'  in  Christian  circles  to  designate  the 
Revelation,  from  which  the  word  came  to  be  applied  to  all 
writings  of  a  similar  class.  Every  Apocalypse  is  thus  an 
example  of  Apocalyptic;  but,  owing  to  the  late  introduc- 
tion of  the  latter  term  as  now  used,  most  dictionaries  do 
not  give  an  adequate  definition.^ 

The  unique  symbolism  of  these  writings  constitutes 
their  most  striking  and  characteristic  feature;  and  it  is 
this  uniform  use  of  cryptic  symbols  instead  of  ordinary 
figures  of  speech  that  invests  the  Apocalypse  of  John 
with  its  peculiar  charm,  and  at  the  same  time  creates  the 
special  problems  of  its  interpretation.  A  symbol  may  be 
defined  as  a  conventional  objective  form  chosen  to  repre- 
sent something  else,  often  not  otherwise  capable  of  por- 
traiture, because  of  some  real  or  fancied  resemblance 

^For  a  discussion  of  this  literature  see  App'x  G  ,  also  art.  'Apoc.  Lit.'  by 
Charles,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.;  Drummond,  The  Jewish  Messiah,  pp.  3-132; 
Schiirer,  The  Jewish  People  in  Time  of  Christ,  Div.  II,  vol.  lii,  p.  44  sqq ;  Stuart 
Com.  on  Rev..  Intr.  pp.  20-98;  Driver.  'Dk  of  Daniel',  in  Camb.  Bib.,  Intr..  pp. 
Ixxvi-lxxxv  ;  Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  Intr.,  pp.  13-34  ;  also  art.  'Apocalypse 
in  Jewish  Encyc. 

^For  a  good  statement  of  the  present  use  of  the  term,  see  art.  'Apocalyptic,' 
Jewish  Encyc.,  vol.   I ;  also  art.  'Apoc.  Lit.',  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Chr.  and  Oosp. 


38      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

that  appeals  to  the  mind;  an  ideal  representation  couched 
in  sensuous  form  that  embodies  one  or  more  of  the  prom- 
inent features  of  its  subject,  and  that  comes  to  repre- 
sent a  fixed  conception  in  the  world  of  fancy,  a  lower  and 
material  sign  being  used  to  represent  a  higher  and  ab- 
stract idea.  The  use  of  symbols  of  some  sort  is  instinc- 
tive and  universal,  and  grows  out  of  a  natural  effort  of 
the  mind  to  clothe  its  ideas  in  forms  that  give  free  scope 
to  the  imagination.  But  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  sym- 
bols and  the  profusion  of  their  use  in  the  Apocalyptic 
literature,  serve  to  mark  it  as  separate  from  all  other  lit- 
erary forms.  Oriental  symbols,  too,  are  so  unfamiliar 
and  oftentimes  so  incongruous  to  our  minds,  such  as  the 
Dragon,  the  Scarlet  Beast,  the  Two-horned  Beast,  and 
even  the  Cherubim,  that  we  perhaps  fail  to  realize  how 
much  they  meant  to  people  of  a  primitive  civilization  who 
were  possessed  of  a  vivid  imagination  without  scientific 
precision  of  thought.  This  difference  in  the  instinctive 
appreciation  of  the  nature  and  value  of  symbols,  together 
with  the  wide  possibilities  of  meaning  that  are  apparent- 
ly inherent  in  the  symbols  used  in  the  Apocalypse,  has  al- 
ways given  room  for  the  fertile  fancy  of  interpreters. 
But  the  later  study  of  the  Apocalyptic  writings  as  a  class 
has  made  it  plain  that  this  effort  was  largely  misspent, 
and  has  led  to  more  discriminating  views  of  the  meaning 
and  use  of  symbols  as  there  found,  and  to  their  limitation 
by  established  usage,  where  such  is  known  to  have  ex- 
isted. For  while  the  growth  of  recognized  symbols  is  nec- 
essarily slow,  and  their  origin  often  impossible  to  trace 
yet  when  they  have  once  been  formed,  and  have  come  to 
possess  an  established  meaning  in  the  public  mind,  they 
exhibit  a  remarkable  persistence ;  and  though  their  mean- 
ing may  be  somewhat  modified  by  subsequent  use  and  by 
particular  application,  yet  it  can  scarcely  suffer  sudden 
and  radical  change.  And  let  us  remember  that  the  sym- 
bols, metaphors,  and  other  figures  found  in  the  Revelation 
are  not  purely  literary :  they  have  had  a  history  and  have 
acquired  a  recognized  and  conventional  meaning.  We 
have,  therefore,  an  available  guide  to  the  interpretation 
of  the  symbols  in  the  book  furnished  by  their  use  not  only 
in  the  Old  Testament,  in  which  by  former  interpreters 
they  were  mainly  sought,  but  especially  in  Jewish  apoca- 
lypses, which  give  the  current  meaning  of  many  of  them 
at  the  time  when  this  book  was  written,  a  sense  which 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      39 

could  not  well  have  been  departed  from  to  any  great  ex- 
tent without  making  their  meaning  wholly  unintelligible. 
And  the  more  clearly  we  apprehend  this  fact,  the 
more  constantly  we  apply  it  in  our  interpretation,  the 
more  likely  are  we  to  arrive  at  the  meaning  intended.^ 
For  while  the  Western  mind  revolts  against  the  oftime 
obscurity  of  Apocalyptic  symbols,  yet  we  not  infrequent- 
ly recur  to  the  same  method  of  illustration.  For  instance, 
a  good  example  of  the  present  day  use  of  symbols,  aided 
by  illustrative  skill,  is  found  in  such  a  cartoon  as  'The 
Modern  Juggernaut'  that  appeared  a  few  years  ago,  in 
which  the  wheeled  car  of  India  was  transformed  into  a 
huge  wine  bottle  full  of  intoxicating  drink  that  rolls  along 
its  way,  crushing  out  the  lives  of  thousands  of  miserable 
victims,  while  the  fierce  dogs  of  War,  Famine,  and  Pesti- 
lence have  under  its  malign  influence  slipped  their  leash 
and  go  forth  to  prey  upon  men.^  This  symbolism  in  some 
measure  parallels  that  of  the  Scarlet  Beast  in  the  Revela- 
tion, and  shows  how  a  great  destructive  force  operating  in 
the  world  may  be  presented  to  many  minds  in  an  objec- 
tive form  much  more  effectively  than  by  any  abstract  ver- 
bal statement.  Like  a  parable  an  apocalypse  flings  a  great 
truth  across  our  path,  instinct  with  the  touch  of  spiritual 
life. 

The  revelation  made  to  John  doubtless  took  the  Apoc- 
alyptic form  because  it  was  the  prevailing  literary  meth- 
od of  that  time  for  the  treatment  of  the  theme  dealt  with 
by  his  prophecy,  and  its  constructive  symbolism  already 
filled  and  colored  his  thought.  But  notwithstanding  that 
it  is  cast  in  a  Jewish  mould,  the  Christian  thought  every- 
where triumphs  over  the  Jewish  form.  The  line  of 
thought  is  limited  to  the  peculiar  range  of  Apocalyptic 
subjects,  and  is  found  to  be  closely  related  to  that  of  our 
Lord's  discourse  upon  the  last  things  (the  so-called  'lit- 
tle apocalypse'  of  our  Lord  in  Mat.  24),  though  it  should 
not  be  regarded  as  formally  an  amplification  of  that  dis- 
course, or  as  chiefly  or  wholly  determined  in  content  by 

'See  Konig,  art.  'Symbol'  in  Hastings'  Diet,  of  bib.,  vol.  v,  p.  169f.,  who 
says.  'What  the  metaphor  is  in  the  sphere  of  speech,  the  symbol  is  in  the  sphere 
of  things.'  Also  see  remarks  by  Milligan  in  Lect's.  on  Apoc,  ch.  I,  under  the 
head  of  'Visions  and  Symbols,'  p.  13f.  For  a  fine  discriminative  view  of  the 
place  of  symbols  in  Oriental  poetry,  see  Moulton's  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  'Bib.  Idyls,' 
Intr.,    pp.    xx-xxif. 

'It  is  not  meant  by  this  to  imply  that  symbols  as  a  class  can  ordinarily  be 
presented  to  the  eye,  or  effectively  depicted  upon  canvas.  In  fact  no  symbol  in 
the  Apocalypse  can  be  reproduced  in  scenic  form  without  doing  manifest  in- 
justice to  the  thought  and  purpose  of  the  writer. 


40      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

it.i  The  prophetic  mood  is  manifest  in  every  part  of  the 
book,  and  the  exalted  mental  state  of  the  writer  is  sus- 
tained throughout  after  the  manner  of  a  rhapsody,  in  the 
structure  and  movement  of  which  all  literary  forms  are  in 
a  measure  fused  together.^  Indeed  by  a  deeper  study  of 
this  unique  work  we  come  to  feel  as  though  in  it '  we  touch 
the  living  soul  of  Asiatic  Christendom'. 

It  remains  to  be  said  that  while  we  class  the  Apoca- 
lypse of  John  with  Jewish  apocalypses  as  to  literary 
form,  yet  it  so  manifestly  rises  above  its  class  both  in 
method  and  content  that  it  is  universally  accorded  the 
first  place  among  Apocalyptic  writings,  and  fuUy  estab- 
lishes its  claim  to  a  place  among  the  inspired  books  of 
Scripture  by  reason  of  the  penetrative  prophetic  insight 
which  it  everywhere  displays  in  dealing  with  the  greatest, 
the  most  central,  and  the  most  mysterious  theme  in  the 
whole  sphere  of  Christian  thought. 

9.     The  Theme. 

The  Theme  of  the  Revelation,  stated  in  its  broadest 
terms,  is  Christ  and  the  Church  through  Time  to  Eterni- 
ty; the  mystery  of  God  in  human  life  and  history  made 
manifest  through  the  disclosure  of  the  divine  redemptive 
plan  becoming  effective  and  triumphant.^  The  theme  we 
assign  to  the  Revelation  will,  of  course,  be  determined 
largely  by  our  view  of  its  contents.  Many  interpret  it  to 
be  Jerusalem,  Rome,  and  the  End,  limiting  its  outlook  to 
the  horizon  of  the  early  church ;  others  make  it  the  Course 
of  History,  or  the  Future  Path  of  the  Church  in  the 
World ;  still  others  affirm  it  to  be  the  Last  Things,  or  the 
Second  Coming  of  Christ.  But  the  wider  view  is  the  truer 
one,  which  includes  many  phases  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
theme  is  properly  interpreted  as  Christ  and  the  Church 
here  and  hereafter,  or  Redemption  in  its  present  and  fu- 
ture relation  to  Human  Life.  This  theme  is  wrought  out 
in  prophetic  vision  by  an  evolving  drama  that  moves  for- 
ward in  multiple  and  progressive  cycles  of  trial  and  tri- 
umph, of  conflict  and  victory,  ever  advancing  toward  the 

iMilligan  identifies  the  Apocalypse  of  John  too  closely  with  that  discourse, 
making  it  mainly  a  development  of  its  principal  ideas.  See  his  Lect's.  on  Apoc, 
p.   42f. 

^Moulton  uses  the  term  'rhapsody'  in  a  technical  sense  to  describe  the  literary 
form  of  Hebrew  dramatic  prophecy,  which  affords  a  helpful  and  convenient  no- 
menclature. See  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  vol.  John,  notes,  p.  191  ,  also  vol.  Isa.,  Intr., 
pp.    vii-xii. 

'The  Greek  words  fivarr/piov  and  aTroicaXvinx  are  commonly  used  in  the  New 
Testament  as  correlative  terms,  signifying  the  once  secret  or  hidden  in  contrast 
with  the  now  discovered  or  partially  revealed.  See  art.  Mystery,'  Hastings' 
Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      41 

complete  and  final  consummation,  when  righteousness 
shall  win,  sin  be  punished,  and  the  redeemed  be  restored 
to  the  immediate  presence  of  God;  and  whereby  the  di- 
vine plan  shall  be  abundantly  vindicated  notwithstand- 
ing all  apparent  anomalies,  and  seeming  contradictions, 
and  temporary  reverses,  for  it  is  confidently  affirmed 
that  the  night  of  sin  shall  ultimately  pass  away,  and  the 
day  dawn  at  last  in  which  'the  glory  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb  shall  be  the  light  thereof;  and  'He  that  sitteth  on 
the  throne  shall  spread  his  tabernacle  over  them . . .  that 
come  out  of  great  tribulation'.  Thus  the  book  gives  an- 
swer to  the  deep  call  of  the  soul  for  some  sign  concerning 
the  future  that  shall  point  the  path  of  faith  and  cheer  the 
heart  for  service ;  and  the  answer  is  abundantly  satisfy- 
ing, for  those  who  interpret  the  theme  aright.  Occupied 
with  such  a  subject  of  thought  it  finds  its  proper  place  at 
the  end  of  the  inspired  volume;  it  forms  a  fitting  close 
for  the  entire  line  of  prophetic  voices;  and  it  binds  the 
long  succession  of  books  into  an  unbroken  unity.^  With 
illimitable  sweep  its  visions  look  backward  through  time 
and  forward  into  eternity,  downward  on  earth's  struggles 
and  upward  upon  heaven's  victory,  inward  to  the  soul's 
conflicts  and  outward  to  God's  eternal  peace,  while 
through  it  all  there  rings  out  the  one  transcendent  note, 
Christ  reig-ns  but  to  triumph. 

10.     The  Occasion. 

The  conditions  which  gave  Occasion  for  this  sole 
Apocalyptic  book  of  the  New  Testament  have  left  their 
impress  on  its  form  and  thought,  viz.  persecution  from 
without,  and  trial  and  distress  within  the  church.  These 
conditions  which  are  subsumed  throughout  must  be  clear- 
ly recognized  in  order  to  interpret  the  message  aright, 
and  to  estimate  its  proper  value  for  the  age  which  first 
received  it.  For,  whether  we  accept  the  earlier  or  later 
date  of  writing,  the  deadly  power  of  the  Roman  Empire 
was  being  put  forth  to  repress  and  destroy  the  church. 
At  the  later  date  the  worship  of  the  Emperor  was  being 
made  the  test  of  obedience  to  law,  and  at  either  time  many 
Christians  in  the  face  of  persecution  were  weak  and 
wavering.  The  immediate  outlook  was  increasingly  dark, 
and  the  future  prospect  full  of  gloom.  The  failure  of  the 
Messiah  to  reappear  and  of  the  church  to  triumph;  the 

>Moulton's  Intr.   to  Litr.  of  Bib.,  p.  326. 


42      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

bitter  experience  of  persecution  already  endured,  and  the 
certainty  of  greater  suffering  yet  to  follow ;  in  a  word,  the 
apparent  reversal  of  the  brightest  hopes  of  early  Christi- 
anity, all  of  these  called  for  some  divine  message  of  cheer 
that  would  inspirit  the  discouraged,  throw  light  upon  the 
path  of  sorrow  and  shame,  and  make  their  lot  endurable 
because  of  the  assuredly  glorious  outcome  of  the  future. 
And  there  was  no  kind  of  message  so  well  suited  to  meet 
such  a  crisis  as  the  form  of  Apocalyptic,  which  grew  out 
of  similar  conditions,  and  had  a  tone  and  temper  pecu- 
liarly adapted  to  infuse  a  triumphant  hope  in  the  midst  of 
growing  religious  despair.^  But  let  us  not  fail  to  perceive 
that  though  the  Apocalypse  was  specially  designed  to 
meet  a  great  crisis  in  the  life  of  the  early  church,  its  effec- 
tiveness does  not  end  there.  Its  lessons  are  for  us  and 
for  all  time;  it  has  the  course  and  end  of  world-history 
in  view,  and  this  is  an  ever-living  theme  for  the  church 
of  Christ  in  every  age. 

11.     The  Purpose. 

The  Purpose  of  the  Apocalypse,  as  indicated  by  its 
introductory  words  'The  Revelation',  is  the  revealing  or 
unveiling  of  mystery.  In  the  Christian  sense  a  mystery  is 
a  former  secret  of  divine  truth  that  has  now  been  at  least 
partially  revealed  (Eph.  3:1-11),  while  an  apocalypse  is 
the  process  of  revealing  it,  and  also  the  revelation  itself 
containing  the  truth  made  known.  The  comprehensive  de- 
sign of  the  book  is  to  unfold  and  interpret  the  divine  pur- 
pose and  method  in  human  history,  especially  in  relation 
to  the  redemptive  process,  by  portra^dng  in  scenic  outline 
the  present  and  future  course  of  the  church  of  Christ 
through  conflict  to  victory,  for  the  vindication  of  God's 
righteousness  in  the  final  issue,  and  for  the  comfort  and 
encouragement  of  tried  and  persecuted  Christians  in  the 
midst  of  the  pathway  of  life.^  The  more  immediate  pur- 
pose was  to  strengthen  the  church  in  the  strain  of  present 
distress,  while  the  ultimate  aim  is  to  be  found  not  in  the 
disclosure  of  history  itself,  but  in  the  establishment  of  the 
moral  order  of  the  world,  in  illustrating  the  fact  that  his- 
tory is  a  divinely  guided  'moral  process  toward  a  goal', 
as  the  substantial  ground  of  a  true  philosophy  of  life,  and 

^Soe  Append.   G,   on  Apocalyptic   Literature. 

-'It  belongs  to  the  innermost  purpose  of  .Jewish  Apocalyptic  'to  attempt  to 
answer  the  question  how  and  when  the  dominion  of  the  world  possessed  so  long 
by  heathen  nations,  will  finally  be  delivered  to  the  people  of  God.',  Hilgenfeld, 
quoted  by  Dusterdieck,  Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  34. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      43 

as  a  permanent  defense  against  false  and  partial  views. 
And  this  purpose  is  so  wrought  out  by  the  portrayal  of  the 
world  as  an  ideal  battlefield  full  of  opposing  forces,  -with 
alternating  scenes  of  triumph  and  danger,  that  the  whole 
becomes  a  fervent  and  powerful  appeal  to  the  heroic  in 
Christian  life  and  character,  and  a  clear  call  to  new  faith 
and  courage.  For  whatever  else  may  be  its  lessons,  we 
must  not  leave  out  of  view  this  practical  purpose  of  di- 
vine monition  to  the  world  of  men,  which  has  so  deeply 
impressed  itself  upon  every  generation  of  Christians.  Its 
message  of  warning  is  inwrought  with  and  reenf  orced  by 
its  prophetic  scenes  of  terror  and  reward :  for  the  Apoca- 
lypse is  the  book  of  the  future  as  well  as  of  the  past  and 
present,  and  that  future  is  ever  near  in  prophetic  vision, 
however  far  it  may  be  in  historic  relation,  and  to  John's 
eye  is  alw^ays  filled  with  the  figure  of  the  returning  Christ 
who  comes  to  judgment  and  to  victory.  The  message, 
however,  viewed  in  its  entirety,  while  it  contains  a  sym- 
pathetic element  of  encouragement  for  the  saints,  and  a 
monitory  element  of  exhortation  and  warning  for  all 
men,  is  yet  fundamentally  a  philosophic  interpretation 
of  the  divine  method  in  history  for  all  who  would  see  God 
in  the  story  of  man 's  life  on  the  earth — a  theodicy  based 
upon  prophecy.  And  any  view  which  assumes  for  the 
author  a  narrow  field  of  vision,  such  as  that  he  merely 
grouped  together  the  current  apocalyptic  conceptions  of 
his  time  in  order  to  fling  them  in  fierce  polemic  against  the 
Roman  Empire  and  to  foreshadow  its  defeat  and  fall,^ 
rests  upon  a  manifestly  imperfect  judgment  that  fails  in 
religious  depth,  missing  the  spiritual  significance  of  the 
message,  and  lacks  in  literary  insight,  denying  the 
evident  marks  of  originality,  genius,  and  inspiration  in 
the  most  wonderful  and  unique  composition  of  its  kind 
that  has  ever  been  produced. 

12.     The  Interpretation. 

There  are  two  essentially  different  methods  of  Inter- 
pretation that  have  been  followed  in  attempting  to  arrive 
at  the  meaning  of  this  manifestly  difficult  book,  which  are 
founded  upon  different  conceptions  of  its  didactic  pur- 
pose, and  proceed  upon  different  lines  of  inquiry,  viz.  the 
Historical,  and  the  Symbolical. 

The  Historical  Interpretation  regards  the  book  as  a 
prophetic  revietu  and  forecast  of  history  veiled  in  symbol, 

^As   Kenan,   and  others. 


44      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

and  seeks  the  meaning  and  fulfilment  of  the  visions  in  cer- 
tain specific  historical  events  which  either  have  occurred, 
are  occurring,  or  will  occur  within  the  sphere  of  human 
life  and  experience.  There  are  three  different  forms  of 
this  method  of  interpretation,  all  of  which  specialize  the 
prophecy  but  differ  as  to  the  time  and  nature  of  the  ful- 
filment, viz.  (1)  the  Preterist  view  (also  called  the  Con- 
temporaneous-Historical), which  regards  that  the  visions 
relate  mainly  to  events  in  the  history  of  the  early  church, 
and  that  they  have  been  already  fulfilled  in  the  far  past ; 
(2)  the  Futurist  view  (also  called  the  Future-Historical), 
that  the  visions  relate  mainly  to  events  w^hich  shall  occur 
in  the  last  days,  and  that  the  fulfilment  is  to  be  looked  for 
chiefly  in  the  more  or  less  remote  future;  and  (3)  the 
Progressivist  view  (also  called  the  Continuous-  or 
Church-Historical),  that  the  several  visions  constitute 
a  continuous  and  progressive  series,  covering  the  whole 
period  of  the  church's  history  from  the  time  of  John  to 
the  last  judgment,  and  that  their  fulfilment  is  therefore 
to  be  found  in  a  successive  line  of  historical  events,  part 
of  which  lie  in  the  past  and  part  in  the  future. 

The  Symbolical  Interpretation,  upon  the  other  hand, 
regards  the  book  as  a  prophetic  idealisation  of  history, 
dealing  with  the  general  course  and  outcome  of  man's  life 
upon  the  earth,  and  disclosing  under  the  form  of  symbols 
the  spiritual  and  moral  forces  which  give  to  history  its 
deeper  meaning ;  and  seeks  the  significance  and  fulfilment 
of  the  visions  not,  therefore,  in  particular  events,  but 
rather  in  classes  of  events,  not  solely  at  one  definite  time, 
but  at  many  different  times,  finding  the  revelation  mainly 
illustrative  of  general  principles  of  the  divine  government 
rather  than  predictive  of  particular  facts  of  history,  a 
view  of  various  phases  rather  than  of  historic  stages  of 
the  church's  experience,^  and  interpreting  its  symbols  in 
the  genuine  spirit  of  Apocalyptic  as  pictorial  representa- 
tions of  the  prevailing  fortunes  of  the  church  in  the  world 
as  she  moves  forward  to  the  final  consummation.-  This 
method  of  interpretation,  which  is  commonly  known  as 

iPurves.  art.  'Rev.',  Davis'  Diet,  of  Bib.;  Milligan,  Lect.  on  Apoc,  p.  153f. ; 
and  Lee,  Bib.  Com.,  Intr.  to  Rev.,  pp.  491-2. 

^Wlth  correct  insight,  it  lias  been  well  said,  that  'the  ancient  commentators 
beheld  in  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse  not  a  prophetic  history  of  the  Christian 
church,  so  much  as  a  figurative  representation  of  the  contest  going  on  in  the 
world  between  the  evil  and  the  good.  And  the  moral  of  the  book,  the  end  for 
which  it  was  given,  (according  to  the  spirit  of  these  interpretations),  was  to 
assure  the  righteous  of  their  ultimate  triumph,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  or 
temporary  success  of  the  powers  of  darkness.*  Todd's  'Discourses  on  Prophecy', 
quoted  in  T.  L.   Scott's  Paragraph  Version  of  Revelation,  opening  page. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      45 

the  Symbolist  view  (also  called  the  Spiritual),  presents 
no  such  marked  difference  of  form  as  the  Historical,  but 
with  a  wider  outlook  regards  that  the  visions  relate  to  all 
such  like  events  in  every  age  as  specially  manifest  God's 
rule  in  the  world  sending  forth  judgment  unto  victory, 
and  such  as  particularly  exhibit  the  progressive  develop- 
ment of  good  and  evil  in  human  life,  together  with  their 
constant  conflict  and  their  final  reward  and  punishment. 
All  the  current  interpretations  may  be  classified  un- 
der one  or  other  of  the  above  heads,  yet  in  the  hands  of 
individual  interpreters  they  are  often  modified  and  blend 
into  each  other  in  their  application — a  manifest  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  there  is  an  element  of  truth  underly- 
ing each  view,  which  we  may  perhaps  say  has  been  unduly 
emphasized,  for  all  agree  that  the  interpretation  is  some- 
how and  somewhere  to  be  found  in  human  life  and  his- 
tory. 

"What  might  be  called  still  another  method  of  inter- 
pretation is  the  Apocalyptic-Traditional  (or  Tradition- 
Historical)  view  of  late  critical  writers  on  the  Apoca- 
lypse already  referred  to,  which  approaches  the  question 
from  the  viewpoint  of  literary  origin,  and  attributes  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  book  to  the  introduction  of  tradition- 
al Jewish  or  Jewish-Christian  Apocalyptic  fragments 
that  have  been  utilized  by  the  author  and  applied  to  the 
historical  conditions  of  his  time,  adapting  them  to  a  new 
meaning.  This,  however,  is  not  so  much  a  separate  meth- 
od of  interpretation  as  it  is  a  corollary  of  the  present 
Literary- Critical  method  of  dealing  with  the  book,  which 
regards  it  as  an  early  Christian  work  in  successive  edi- 
tions that  has  taken  into  itself  certain  Jewish  elements. 
With  this  origin  assumed  the  interpretation  does  not 
differ  materially  from  the  Preterist  view  except,  perhaps, 
that  it  is  less  rigorous  in  its  application  to  current  events, 
and  recognizes  more  fully  the  idealism  of  the  author ;  for 
the  historical  outlook  has  measurably  lost  its  value  ex- 
cept as  an  indication  of  the  date  of  writing,  and  for  most 
who  hold  this  view  the  book  has  no  longer  any  distinctive 
prophetic  message  for  the  church ;  it  has  become  chiefly  a 
fantastic  dream,  a  pious  dream  it  is  true,  but  only  a 
dream  of  the  far  past. 

The  principal  question  of  interpretation,  as  will  be 
seen  by  a  consideration  of  the  current  views,  relates  not 
only  to  the  view-point,  but  also  to  the  aim  or  design  of  the 


46      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION. 

Revelation.  The  Historical  method  centers  the  chief  aim 
of  the  book  in  a  predictive-'pTo^h.etiG  element  which  it 
finds  throughout  and  regards  as  pointing  to  specific 
events  in  particular  periods  of  history  that  are  designed 
to  teach  important  spiritual  lessons.  With  this  idea  of  the 
didactic  purpose,  it  yet  presents  the  widest  variation  of 
opinion  concerning  the  viewpoint  of  the  book,  and  in- 
cludes upon  the  one  hand  the  extreme  rationalist  who  con- 
siders it  a  purely  human  writing,  a  Jewish  apocalypse 
that  has  been  revamped  to  include  Christian  ideas,  which 
blends  history  with  prediction  and  reflects  only  the  hori- 
zon of  the  first  century ;  and  on  the  other  hand  the  devout 
mystic  who  accepts  its  message  as  chiefly  predictive 
prophecy  of  the  far  future,  and  interprets  it  well  nigh 
literally  as  a  prophetic  account  of  the  world's  ending 
amid  terror  and  blood.  The  Symbolist  method,  with  a 
quite  different  conception,  centers  the  aim  of  the  book  in 
an  interpretative-'pYO'phetiG  element  which  it  finds  in 
every  part,  and  regards  as  setting  forth  the  principles  of 
the  divine  government,  and  pointing  to  their  exemplifica- 
tion in  multijile  events  occurring  in  different  periods  of 
history  that  are  working  together  toward  the  final  con- 
summation. According  to  this  method  of  interpretation 
the  view^point  is  idealistic,  universal,  and  timeless,  and 
the  scope  of  the  visions  correspondingly  wide. 

The  latter  view,  which  is  the  one  presented  in  the  fol- 
ing  outline,  affords  a  fairly  satisfactory  interpretation 
that  has  been  steadily  gaining  ground  during  the  last 
half-century,  and  to  the  present  author  seems  destined  in 
some  form  to  attain  general  though  perhaps  not  universal 
acceptance.  The  views  of  the  leaders  in  the  symbolical 
school  present  no  material  divergence  in  general  inter- 
pretation,^ and  the  principles  of  this  interpretation  seem 
likely  to  prevail  throughout  the  Christian  church  of  the 
future,  though  the  form  and  application  may  be  somewhat 
modified.  The  objection  that  'this  system  of  interpreta- 
tion is  out  of  keeping  with  the  general  purpose  of  Apoca- 
lyptic literature',^  loses  its  force  if  we  grant  that  the  book 
is  inspired,  and  realize  that  the  literary  form  was  chosen 
because  of  its  adaptability  for  the  treatment  of  the  topics 
dealt  with  in  the  Apocalypse;  for  once,  the  Apocalyptic 
form  becomes  the  vehicle  of  a  divine  revelation,  it  there- 
by escapes  some  of  the  main  limitations  of  its  class,  one 

^As  Millifjan,  Plummer,  Lee,   Riddle,  Purves,  Warfleld,  and  others. 
2Dods'  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  244. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      47 

of  which  was  'the  consciousness  of  no  new  message  from 
God  for  the  generation  to  which  it  was  addressed';  and 
accordingly  it  should  here  be  regarded  as  only  the  liter- 
ary setting  in  which  the  message  continually  overtops 
the  form,  the  art-form  in  which  the  art  is  lost  sight  of 
through  the  beauty  and  power  of  the  truth  which  it  pre- 
sents. This  view,  although  not  without  difficulties,  is  yet 
believed  by  a  good  proportion  of  eminent  scholars  to  be 
based  upon  sound  and  temperate  exegesis,  to  be  best 
suited  to  the  character  of  the  book,  and  to  give  relative 
value  to  all  the  elements  of  truth  contained  in  other 
views.  The  importance  of  the  historical  situation  of 
John's  time  and  of  the  lessons  for  that  age  is  fully  recog- 
nized, the  eschatological  element  throughout  is  given  due 
consideration,  and  the  application  of  the  prophecy  to  the 
entire  trend  and  events  of  history  is  made  apparent, 
while  the  precise  time-relation  of  the  visions  is  for  the 
most  part  eliminated,  and  thus  the  field  of  prophetic  pro- 
spective is  maintained  in  its  true  breadth,  and  not  nar- 
rowed as  in  the  historical  interpretation  to  a  particular 
age  or  series  of  events.  And  the  interpretation  as  a  whole 
rests  for  its  validity  upon  the  scope  and  tenor  of  the  book 
throughout,  and  can  therefore  be  maintained  without  de- 
termining the  full  or  specific  meaning  of  every  part.  The 
Revelation  thus  understood  ceases  to  be  either  a  political 
diatribe  of  the  iirst  century,  or  the  terrored  story  of  the 
End;  it  rises  above  an  epitome  of  history  whether  near 
or  far,  and  takes  rank  as  a  true  prophetic  book  in  Apoca- 
lyptic form,  dealing  with  the  all-embracing  plan  of  God 
for  the  ages,  and  the  munificent  purpose  of  redemption; 
and  it  is  thereby  rescued  from  many  conjectural  and  con- 
tradictory interpretations  which  have  obscured  its  mean- 
ing, and  becomes  a  living  prophecy  of  value  to  the  church 
in  every  age. 

The  tendency  tow^ard  wiser  methods  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Apocalypse,  and  the  growing  spirit  of  una- 
nimity concerning  its  larger  lessons,  provide  good  ground 
for  encouragement  to  the  troubled  reader.  And  while,  no 
doubt,  the  influence  of  the  individual  type  of  mind  will 
continue  to  be  felt  in  the  interpretation,  the  rationalistic 
emphasizing  the  preterist  application,  the  mystic  the  fu- 
turist, and  the  practical  mind  the  symbolic  and  universal 
reference,  yet  it  should  always  be  kept  in  view  that  the 
chief  importance  of  the  book  for  the   church  at  large 


48      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 


transcends  any  question  of  theoretical  interpretation, 
and  lies  in  its  practical  worth  in  providing  a  rich  source 
of  religious  inspiration,  an  invigorating  aid  to  imperfect 
faith,  and  an  abiding  stimulus  to  the  Christian  imagina- 
tion, in  enabling  the  ordinary  mind  to  realize  the  spir- 
itual in  the  midst  of  and  transcending  the  natural,  and  in 
making  the  deep  conflict  of  life  with  its  divine  superin- 
tendence an  ever  present  fact  to  the  human  soul.  Indeed 
the  book  was  evidently  written  for  common  use  in  the 
early  church  in  public  worship  (ch.  1.3), which  indicates 
an  appreciation  of  its  value  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
modern  indifference  that  passes  it  by  as  unintelligible. 
The  Apocalypse  has  also  a  historical  value,  quite  apart 
from  its  general  meaning  and  use,  that  we  should  not 
overlook,  for  it  throws  important  light  upon  the  politi- 
cal and  social  conditions  as  well  as  the  inner  thought  and 
development  of  the  Christian  church  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  first  century.  It  reflects  throughout  the  faith  and 
temper  in  which  the  early  church  faced  its  growing  con- 
flict with  the  world.  And  it  serves  to  show  that  at  the 
close  of  the  apostolic  age  there  was  a  Christianity  which 
was  free  from  the  law  and  universal,  and  yet  continued 
to  adhere  to  Jewish  modes  of  expression.^ 

13.     The  Outline  Analysis. 

I  THE  PROLOGUE    (OR  INTRODUC- 
TION)     CH.    I.    1—3.   22 

1  The  Superscription ch.  i.  1—3 

2  The  Salutation ch.  i.  4—8 

3  The  Introductory  Vision ch.  i.  9—20 

4  The  Seven  Epistles CH.  2.  1—3.  22 

IJ  THE  MAIN  APOCALYPSE   (OR 

REVELATION     PROPER) CH.   4.    I — 22.    5 

1  The  Vision  o£  God  on  the 

Throne   CH.  4 

2  The  Vision  of  the  Seven 

Seals    CH.  6, 

2b  The  Episode  of  the  Sealed 

Ones    CH.  7, 

3  The  Vision  of  the  Seven 

Trumpets  ch.  8 

3b  The  Episode  of  the  Angel  with 
the  Book,  and  of  the  Two 
Witnesses    ch.  10.  i — 11.  13 

4  The  Vision  of  Conflict ch.  12.  i — 14.20 


1—5-  14 

I — 17,  and  8.  i 

I— 17 

2 — 9.  21,  and  II.  14 — 19 


^Harnack.  art.  'Rev.',  Encyc.  Brit. ;  also  McGiffert,  Apos.  Age,  p.  624  ;  and 
Porter,  art  'Rev.',  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     49 

5  The  Vision  of  the  Seven 

Vials    en.  15.  i — 16.  12,  and  16.  17 — 21 

5b  The  Episode  of  the  Frog-Uke 

Spirits  CH.  16.  13—16 

6  The  Vision  o£  Victory cu.  17.  i— 20.15 

7  The  Vision  of  the  New- 

Jerusalem  CH.  21.   1—22.  5 

III      THE  EPILOGUE    (OR  CONCLU- 
SION)     CH.   22.   6—21 

1  The  Final  Words  of  the  Angel, 

with  the  Promise  of 

Christ    CH.  22.  6—16 

2  The  Closing  Testimony  of 

John    CH.  22.  17 — 20 

3  The  Author's  Benediction CH.  22.  21 

14.     The  Literary  Structure. 

The  elaborate  and  artistic  Literary  Structure  of  the 
Apocalyipse,  the  numerical  symmetry  of  its  parts,  the  par- 
allelism of  its  visions,  and  the  recurrent  climaxes  in  its 
development,  together  unite  to  give  it  a  unique  place 
among  the  writings  of  Scripture ;  and  a  dear  perception  of 
these  relations  becomes  a  distinct  aid  to  the  better  under- 
standing of  its  message,  for  these  belong  to  it  as  the  outer 
robes  which  enfold  its  inner  thought.  The  predominance 
of  the  number  seven  in  the  arrangement  of  its  subject- 
matter  throughout,  especially  the  recurrence  of  formal 
series  of  sevens  in  the  Epistles,  Seals,  Trumpets,  and 
Vials,  has  commonly  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  book  is 
somehow  capable  of  division  into  seven  parts  fundamen- 
tal to  its  structure.  And  although  the  failure  of  commen- 
tators to  agree  generally  upon  any  lines  of  division  yet 
proposed  scarcely  seems  to  support  this  opinion,  yet  the 
possible  correctness  and  the  general  helpfulness  of  such 
a  division  is  fully  recognized.  Any  such  division  which  we 
may  make,  however,  is  chiefly  one  of  analysis,  for  the  vi- 
sions are  continuous  and  develop  without  any  distinctive 
break  of  prophetic  view.  The  outline  analysis  given  above 
divides  the  Visions,  or  main  portion  of  the  book,  into  sev- 
en iparts,  the  Episodes  being  made  parenthetical  and  sub- 
ordinate, as  their  contents  and  connection  serve  to  indi- 
cate ;  while  the  four  subdivisions  of  the  Introduction  and 
three  of  the  Conclusion  taken  together,  form  another  sev- 
en. This  general  division,  which  is  not  an  uncommon  one, 
agrees  in  the  main,  though  not  in  statement  or  in  full  de- 
tail, with  that  in  the  Pulpit  Commentary,^  and  is  one  of 

'See  •Analytical  Conspectus'  by  Randell  on  p.  xxvli  of  vol.  on  Rev.  in  Pulp.  Com. 


50      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

the  most  natural  as  well  as  the  most  helpful  in  bringing 
out  the  chief  thought  of  the  book.  The  carefully  wrought 
out  and  remarkably  suggestive  division  and  subdivision 
into  complete  series  of  sevens,  given  in  the  Modern  Read- 
er's Bihle,^  after  the  same  manner  as  the  Prophecy  of 
Ezekiel,  and  the  Rhapsody  of  Joel,  is  worthy  of  attentive 
consideration,  though  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
such  an  extensive  subdivision  found  place  in  the  Apoca- 
lyptist's  thought.^  With  discriminative  literary  insight 
the  author  of  that  work  says,  concerning  the  general  out- 
line of  the  book,  'The  seven  visions  of  St  John's  Revela- 
tion seem  in  the  line  of  their  succession  to  trace  the  figure 
of  an  arch,  the  keystone  of  the  arch  being  the  master- 
thought  of  the  prophecy ; . . .  On  either  side  of  it  [in  the 
arrangement  of  the  visions]  III  is  closely  parallel  wdth  V, 
and  II  mth  VI . . .  while  I  and  VII  are  separate  from  the 
rest. .  .As  always,  literary  form  is  here  pointing  to  the 
deepest  spiritual  meaning'.  The  theme  of  the  central  vi- 
sion according  to  this  view,  is  '  Salvation :  the  Kingdom  of 
this  World  becoming  the  Kingdom  of  Christ',  which  puts 
the  purpose  of  the  Christian  warfare  to  the  front,  and  has 
much  to  commend  it ;  for  the  warfare  is  in  order  that  the 
redemptive  purpose  of  God  may  become  effective  and 
triumphant.  There  are  reasons,  however,  in  the  scheme  of 
the  book  which  seem  to  place  the  main  emphasis  upon  the 
warfare  itself  as  leading  to  salvation,  and  that  view  has 
been  accepted  in  this  work.  Following  the  fertile  sugges- 
tion given  above,  though  with  a  somewhat  different  con- 
ception of  the  theme  of  the  several  visions,  we  arrive  at 
the  following  outline  of  the  thought  and  plan  of  the  chief 
part  of  the  book,^  viz: — 

IV — A  Vision  of  Warfare — 

the  Church-Historic  World-Conflict  of  the  Evil 
against  the  Just.     (Ch.  12.1 — 14.20) 

III— A  Vision  of  Threatening    V— A  Vision  of  Judgment — 

the  World's  Punishment  Threatened.      the  World's  Judgment  Executed. 
(Ch.  8.2—9.21,  and  11. 14 — 19)  (Ch.  15. i — 16.12,  and  16.17 — 21) 

II — A  Vision  of  Trial —  VI — A  Vision  of  Vindication — 

the  Church's  Trial  Foreshown.  the  Church's  Vindication  Manifested. 

(Ch.  6.1— 17,  and  8.1)  (Ch.  17.1—20.15) 

I — A  Vision  of  Sovereignty —  VII — A  Vision  of  Triumph — 

the  Throne  during  Conflict.  the  Throne  after  Victory. 

(Ch.  4.1— 5.^14)  (Ch.  21.1— 22.5) 

iMoulton,  vol.  St  John,  notes,  p.  195,  Mod.  Read.  Bib. 

2'Most  of  the  prophetic  books  (in  the  Old  Testament)  lend  themselves  to  a 
seven-fold  arrangement.  ..  .All  that  is  Implied  in  such  a  feature  of  style  is  an 
extreme  sense  of  orderly  arrangement ;  and  to  the  Hebrew  mind  order  suggests 
the  number  seven'  (the  number  of  fulness  or  completeness  of  quality),  Mod., 
Read.  Bih.,  Mat.,   Intr.  p.   xi. 

'See  also  App'x  F.,  diagram. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    51 

If  we  follow  the  natural  order  of  the  visions  from  I 
to  VII,  we  find  it  to  be  one  of  progression,  viz.  from  Sov- 
ereignty to  Trial,  then  to  Threatening,  and  on  through 
Warfare,  Judgment,  and  Vindication  to  Triumph,  each 
being  a  separate  step  in  advance :  if  we  compare  I  with 
VII,  II  with  VI,  and  III  with  V,  we  find  the  order  to  be 
marked  by  parallelism,  viz.  Sovereignty  corresponding 
to  Triumph,  Trial  to  Vindication,  and  Threatening  to 
Judgment,  vision  IV,  that  of  Warfare,  holding  the  bal- 
ance between  them :  while  if  we  regard  the  central  vision 
in  relation  to  the  rest,  we  find  the  arrangement  to  be  one 
of  climax,  vision  IV  forming  the  connecting  link  between 
I  and  VII,  II  and  VI,  and  III  and  V,  the  visions  preceding 
and  following  it  forming  an  ascending  and  descending 
scale  to  and  from  the  center,  viz.  that  of  Sovereignty 
leading  through  Warfare  to  Triumph,  that  of  Trial 
through  Warfare  to  Vindication,  and  that  of  Threaten- 
ing through  Warfare  to  Judgment.  The  movement  of 
thought  is  thereby  indicated  to  be  from  the  throne  chal- 
lenged to  the  throne  triumphant,  from  the  church  tried 
to  the  church  vindicated,  from  the  world  threatened  to 
the  world  judged,  through  a  world-conflict  which  forms 
the  acme  of  the  dramatic  purpose,  and  discloses  the  en- 
tire sweep  of  redemptive  history  as  buttressed  upon  the 
eternal  throne.  The  seven  visions,  according  to  this  view, 
are  not  bound  together  by  any  temporal  succession,  but 
each  displays  a  world-process  complete  in  itself,  and 
they  are  so  arranged  that  the  climax  is  reached  at  the 
center  instead  of  the  end,  after  the  analogy  of  Hebrew 
poetry,  the  central  vision  furnishing  the  key  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  whole. ^  The  value  of  such  an  analytic 
interpretation,  when  sustained  by  the  contents  of  the 
book,  lies  not  alone  in  the  help  which  it  affords  in  pene- 
trating the  deeper  purpose  of  the  writer,  and  of  the  rev- 
elation made  through  him,  but  in  the  illuminative  effect 
which,  in  a  case  like  this,  it  throws  upon  the  disputed 
question  of  unity;  for  if  any  such  clearly  marked  and  con- 
tinuous current  of  thought  can  be  shoA\m  to  thread  its 
way  throughout  the  entire  book,  despite  all  by-currents 
and  eddies,  then  the  various  theories  of  diverse  or  com- 
posite authorship  cease  to  be  credible  except  to  pure 
theorists. 

iSee  Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  vol.  St  John,  Intr.  p.  xxil. 


52     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


15.     The  Literature. 

The  Literature  relating  to  this  difficult  book  is  very 
extensive,  more  works,  strange  to  say,  having  been  writ- 
ten on  the  Apocalypse  which  has  been  so  imperfectly  un- 
derstood than  upon  any  other  part  of  Scripture,  though 
many  of  them  are  now  rightly  regarded  as  of  little  value. 
A  careful  study  of  one  or  more  of  the  leading  authorities 
representing  each  of  the  current  methods  of  interpre- 
tation will  give  a  fair  view  of  the  whole  field,  and  will 
serve  to  show  that  in  many  points  there  is  essential 
agreement  among  all  schools  of  thought,  though  for  ad- 
vanced work  one's  reading  must  necessarily  cover  a  wid- 
er range,  for  the  student  should  then  know  all  the  best 
that  has  been  said  upon  the  problems  of  the  book.  The 
most  important  qualification,  however,  for  this  difficult 
study  is  to  approach  the  whole  subject  with  an  open  mind 
and  a  fresh  spirit  of  inquiry,  resolved  to  be  quite 
untrammelled  by  traditional  interpretations,  to  investi- 
gate with  scrupulous  care  the  various  points  of  view, 
and  to  apply  with  fearless  courage  all  the  well-established 
results  of  investigation,  especially  those  of  the  later  fruit- 
ful studies  in  Apocalyptic  literature,  which  enable  us 
to  approach  more  nearly  the  viewpoint  of  the  earliest 
readers  of  the  book,  but  which  yet  remain  to  be  duly 
correlated  with  our  previous  knowledge,  being  confident- 
ly assured  that  there  is  'light  yet  to  break'  for  the 
earnest  soul  upon  the  deep  things  of  the  Apocalypse. 

It  is  not  likely  that  any  one  coimnentary  will  prove 
entirely  satisfactory  to  the  thoughtful  reader,  owing  to 
the  wide  variation  of  opinion  upon  many  minor  points 
among  those  holding  the  same  general  view.  Milligan  is 
very  suggestive  though  not  always  convincing,  for  he  is 
oftentimes  too  indefinite  in  interpretation  to  be  satisfying 
to  the  reader,  telling  us  that  'no  detail  of  historic  events 
need  be  looked  for'.  His  discussion  of  principles,  how- 
ever, is  always  illuminative,  even  when  his  application  is 
not  quite  so  clear;  and  not  infrequently  his  work  is  of 
more  value  in  showing  the  inconclusiveness  of  other  views 
than  in  establishing  his  own.  We  are  indebted  to  him, 
through  the  general  circulation  of  his  works,  perhaps 
more  than  to  any  other  writer,  for  the  present  prevalence 
of  the  symbolic  view  in  the  English  speaking  world,  and 
his  Lectures,  and  one  or  other  of  his  Commentaries, 
should  be  read  by  every  student.  Plummer,  in  the  Pulpit 


STUDIES  in  tlJie  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.    53 

Commentary,  will  be  found  more  satisfactory  by  the  gen- 
eral reader,  especially  if  he  inclines  to  the  symbolic  inter- 
pretation, and  there  is,  in  fact,  no  better  commentary  for 
common  use,  though  we  may  not  agree  with  all  his  conclu- 
sions. To  his  wise  and  discriminative  judgment  the 
present  author  wishes  to  express  a  deep  indebted- 
ness. The  short  introduction  to  that  volume,  with  its 
scholarly  notes  on  manuscripts,  versions,  &c,  will  also  be 
found  very  helpful  to  the  busy  student.  Farrar,  support- 
ing the  preterist  view,  gives  the  historical  conditions  of 
the  Neronic  period  in  a  striking  way,  many  of  which  are 
equally  applicable  to  the  whole  latter  part  of  the  first  cen- 
tury. Lee  is  especially  valuable  for  the  condensed  resume 
of  opinions  concerning  many  obscure  passages  through- 
out the  book,  though  the  great  diversity  of  views  at  times 
presented  is  apt  to  be  confusing,  Faussett  is  excellent 
from  his  point  of  view,  ranking  among  the  best  premillen- 
nial  interpreters.  Seiss  is  also  a  popular  authority  with 
those  who  share  the  premillennial  expectation,  but  his  ex- 
egesis is  often  faulty,  and  his  interpretation  fanciful. 
Moulton's  Modern  Reader's  Bible  vol.  John,  is  indispen- 
sable for  its  literary  analysis  and  aid  in  gaining  the  gen- 
eral perspective,  and  should  be  in  the  library  of  every 
student.  The  Introduction  to  Revelation  in  the  Neiv  Cen- 
tury Bihle,  by  C.  A.  Scott,  gives  an  admirable  and  concise 
statement  of  the  present  status  of  opinion  concerning  the 
problems  of  the  book,  and  the  notes  of  the  same  volume 
are  especially  valuable  for  their  references  to  Jewish 
Apocalyptic.  This  is  the  best  small  book  for  the  use  of  the 
student  who  wishes  to  get  an  outline  of  the  modern  view 
concerning  the  incorporation  of  Jewish  apocalypses.  For 
those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  Greek  text,  Alford, 
Stuart,  and  Diisterdieck  will  be  found  quite  helpful,  even 
though  they  belong  to  a  former  generation,  for  each  has  a 
special  excellency ;  but  the  late  work  of  Swete,  the  Apoca- 
lypse of  St  John  (1906),  which  is  both  thorough  and 
scholarly,  is  indispensable  for  the  critical  use  of  the  stu- 
dent in  that  it  meets  more  fully  the  questions  of  modern 
inquiry  and  present  discussion,  and  maintains  a  moderate 
view  of  the  opinions  now  to  the  fore  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  book.  On  the  other  hand  Briggs'  Messiah  of  the 
Gospels,  and  Moffatt's  Historical  Neiv  Testament  give  a 
good  account  of  late  theories  of  composite  authorship  and 
deserve  attention.  Also  the  able  work  of  Moffatt  on  Rev- 
elation in  the  final  volume  of  the  Expositor's  Greek  Test- 


54     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

ament  has  been  issued  (1910),  and  deserves  careful  no- 
tice. The  author  adopts  the  modern  critical  view,  that 
portions  of  the  book  have  been  incorporated  from  current 
apocalypses,  and  devotes  considerable  attention  to 
source-criticism  as  an  aid  to  interpretation,  but  too  much 
time  is  given  to  pointing  out  what  he  regards  as  parallel 
thought  in  Greek,  Roman,  and  Jewish  writings,  and  this 
often  has  little  interpretative  value.  The  work  is  adapted 
to  the  ripe  scholar  rather  than  the  earlier  student,  and 
though  rejecting  extreme  views,  it  will  not  be  found  alto- 
gether satisfying  to  those  of  more  conservative  mind  who 
believe  that  the  Apocalypse  is  entitled  to  a  primary  rather 
than  a  secondary  place  among  the  books  of  Scripture.  An- 
other work  awaited  with  much  interest  is  the  volume  on 
Revelation  in  the  International  Critical  Commentary 
which  is  in  course  of  preparation  by  Charles,  the  eminent 
authority  upon  Apocalyptic.^  This  volume  when  issued 
will  no  doubt  add  much  of  value  to  the  modern  point  of 
view,  and  serve  to  throw  additional  light  upon  the  rela- 
tions of  Apocalyptic  literature  to  this  its  greatest  master- 
piece. His  Studies  in  the  Apocalypse  (1913)  serves  to  in- 
dicate the  general  line  of  interpretation  to  be  expected, 
and  it  must  be  said  that  this  is  somewhat  disappointing  to 
the  conservative  reader,  for  it  is  highly  critical.  One  nat- 
urally hesitates  to  disagree  so  widely  with  such  an  emi- 
nent scholar  and  distinguished  apocalyptist  as  has  been 
found  necessary  to  do  in  the  following  pages;  but  it 
should  be  remembered  that  all  Scripture  is  written  for  the 
world  of  men,  and  that  the  opinion  of  no  one  scholar  or 
number  of  scholars  can  authoritatively  determine  the 
meaning  of  any  part  of  it,  but  that  rather  the  interpreta- 
tion must  be  arrived  at  by  a  general  consensus  of  opinion 
among  men  of  learning  and  piety  throughout  the  world. 
That  this  opinion,  though  now  veering  toward  the  critical 
view,  will  not  be  eventually  sustained  by  more  thorough 
research  is  the  confirmed  judgment  of  many  scholars.  But 
with  it  all  there  are  many  points  of  interpretation  former- 
ly in  dispute  that  may  now  be  regarded  as  already  settled, 
their  essential  meaning  in  any  case  being  substantially 
the  same,  and  thus  the  book  so  long  aglow  with  mysteries 
has  virtually  become  every  man's  book  in  the  light  of  in- 
telligent interpretation. 

Finally,  with  special  emphasis  it  should  be  said,  that 
it  is  of  prime  importance  for  those  who  would  understand 

>See   Foreword,   p.   9. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     55 

the  Apocalypse  in  its  proper  relations  to  Biblical  thought, 
that  a  careful  study  should  be  made  of  the  prophecies  of 
Daniel,  Ezekiel,  Zechariah,  Isaiah,  Amos,  Joel,  and  Ha- 
bakkuk,  together  with  the  Book  of  Psalms,  in  connection 
with  the  Revelation,  in  order  to  catch  the  inner  thought 
of  the  book ;  also  of  some  portion  of  the  Apocalyptic  liter- 
ature, particularly  the  Book  of  EnocJi,^  the  Apocalypse  of 
Baruch,  and  the  Fourth  Booh  of  Ezra,  for  these  will  fur- 
nish the  atmosphere  of  Jewish  thought  in  which  the 
Apocalypse  was  conceived,  and  will  provide  substantial 
aid  in  understanding  the  peculiarities  of  its  literary  form 
and  the  general  spirit  of  the  work,  as  well  as  in  freeing 
the  mind  from  the  trammels  of  traditional  interpreta- 
tion. But,  above  all,  we  should  not  forget  that  the  book  of 
Revelation  is  a  properly  recognized  part  of  canonical 
Scripture  in  practically  the  universal  judgment  of  the  en- 
tire Christian  world,  and  that  notwithstanding  its  many 
and  persistent  difficulties  of  interpretation,  it  is  yet  en- 
titled to  our  earnest  study  and  attentive  thought  as  con- 
taining a  living  and  abiding  message  from  Almighty  God, 
through  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  to  John  the  last 
of  the  apostles,  and  through  him  to  the  sin-burdened 
souls  of  men  the  world  over. 

A  few  authorities  are  named  below,  which  mil  be 
found  sufficient  to  give  most  that  is  of  value  in  interpreta- 
tion for  the  general  reader;  others  are  referred  to  in  the 
foot-notes.  For  a  fuller  list,  especially  of  the  older  books, 
consult  the  Schaff-Herzog  Encyclopaedia,  or  Smith's 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  art.  'Revelation';  while  for 
the  later  literature  see  Hastings '  Dictionary  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  Encyclopaedia  Biblica. 

For  the  English  Reader. 
Preterist  View: — 

Farrar,  Early  Days  of  Christianity;  ■> 

Maurice,  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse.  '  ' 

Futurist  View: — 

Faussett,  in  Jamieson,  Faussett,  and  Broum^s  Com- 
mentary, 

Seiss,  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse, 

I'The  influonce  of  the  Bk.  of  Enoch  on  the  New  Testament  has  been  greater 
than  that  of  all  the  other  apocryphal  and  pseudepigraphlcal  books  taken  to- 
gether.' Book  of  Enoch  (Charles).  Gen.  Intr.,  p.  41. 


56     STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      _ 

Progressivist  View: — 

Wordsworth,  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse; 

Barnes,  Notes  on  the  Book  of  Revelation. 
Symbolist  View: — 

Milligan,  in  Expositor's  Bihle,  and  in  Popular  {Inter- 
national) Commentary; 

Plummer,  in  Pulpit  Commentary ; 

Lee,  in  Bihle  {Speakers')  Commentary. 

For  Critical  Study. 

Preterist  View: — 

Diisterdieck,  in  Meyer's  Commentary; 

Stuart,  in  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse. 
Preterist  View — Modern  Critical: — 

Moffatt,  in  Expositor's  Greek  Testament; 

Swete,  Apocalypse  of  St  John. 
Progressivist  View — Modified  Historical : — 

Simcox,  in  Cambridge  Greek  Testament. 
Futurist  View — Modified  Historical: — 

Alford,  in  Greek  Testament. 

For  Recent  Critical  Views. 

Moffatt 's  Historical  New  Testament; 

Scott's  'Revelation',  in  New  Century  Bihle; 

Dean's  Book  of  Revelation; 

Alexander  Ramsay's  'Revelation  and  Johannine  Epis- 
tles', in  Westminister  Neiv  Test. ; 

Briggs'  Messiah  of  the  Apostles; 

Barton,  art.  'The  Apocalypse  and  Recent  Criticism',  in 
Amer.  Journ.  of  TheoL,  Apr.  1884 ; 

Porter,  art.  'Revelation',  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the 
Bihle ; 

Bousset,  art.  'Apocalypse',  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Bih- 
lica. 

Moffatt,  art. '  WelUiausen  and  Others  on  the  Apocalypse ', 
in  the  Expositor,  Mar.  1909; 

Charles,  Studies  in  the  Apocalypse ; 

Charles,  Revelation  of  St  John  {I.  C.  C.) ; 

Beckwith,  Apocalypse  of  John. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    57 

For  General  Discussion. 

Fairbairn,  On  Prophecy ; 
Bleek,  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse; 
Vaiighan,  Lectures  on  the  Revelation  of  St  John; 
Milligan,  Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse;  and  Discussions 
on  the  Apocalypse ; 

Scott,  'Book  of  Eevelation',  in  the  Practical  Commen- 
tary; 

Stevens,  Theology  of  the  Neiu  Testament,  Part  VI ; 

Ramsay,  Letters  to  the  Seven  Churches; 

Introductions  to  the  Neiv  Testainent  by  Salmon,  Dods, 
Bacon,  Jiilicher,  and  others; 

Introductions  to  Revelation  in  the  leading  Commentaries, 
and  in  the  Modern  Reader's  Bible,  the  New  Century 
Bible,  the  Temple  Bible,  and  the  Modern  American 
Bible ;  and  the  text  of  Revelation  in  the  New  Transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  by  Moffatt. 


The  Text  here  given  is  that  of  the  American 
Standard  Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  copyright  1901 
by  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  which  is  used  by  permission 
of  the  publishers. 

The  arrangement  of  the  text  belongs  to  the  present 
volume,  and  is  offered  as  a  contribution  to  the  correct 
interpretation.  This  in  itself  is  of  the  nature  of  a  com- 
mentary, though  no  changes  have  been  introduced  into 
the  body  of  the  text.  The  paragraphs,  however,  have 
been  changed,  and  many  new  paragraphs  made,  in  order 
to  emphasize  the  thought  of  the  text. 


SCRIPTURE  TEXT 


60      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

THE  REVELATION 
[OF  JOHN] 


1 


The  Book 
Described 


A  Blessing 
Prouounced 


The  Address 
aud  Greeting 


The  Coming 
Christ 


The.Respon- 


I     THE  PROLOGUE 

I     The  Superscription 

The  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  ^gave 
him  to  show  unto  his  ^servants,  even  the  things  which 
must  shortly  come  to  pass :  and  he  sent  and  signified  ^it 
by  his  angel  unto  his  servant  John;  2  who  bare  wit- 
ness of  the  word  of  God,  and  of  the  testimony  of 
Jesus  Christ,  even  of  all  things  that  he  saw. 

3  Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear 
the  words  of  the  prophecy,  and  keep  the  things  that 
are  written  therein:  for  the  time  is  at  hand. 

2     The  Salutation 

4  John  to  the  seven  churches  that  are  in  Asia: 
Grace  to  you  and  peace,  from  him  who  is  and  who  was 
and  *who  is  to  come;  and  from  the  seven  Spirits  that 
are  before  his  throne;  5  and  from  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  the  faithful  witness,  the  firstborn  of  the  dead,  and 
the  ruler  of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  Unto  him  that 
loveth  us,  and  '^loosed  us  from  our  sins  ''by  his  blood; 
6  and  he  made  us  to  be  a  kingdom,  to  be  priests  unto 
''his  God  and  Father;  to  him  be  the  glory  and  the  do- 
minion ^for  ever  and  ever.     Amen, 

(7  Behold,  he  cometh  with  the  clouds;  and 
every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  that  pierced  him ; 
and  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  shall  mourn  over  him. 
Even  so.  Amen. 

8  I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  ®who  is  and  who  was  and  *who  is  to  come,  the  \ 


Message   Almighty. 


The  Introductory  Vision 


9  I  John,  your  brother  and  partaker  with  you  in 
the  tribulation  and  kingdom  and  ^"patience  which  are 
in  Jesus,  was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for  the 

iQr.  gave  unto  him,  io  show  unto  his  servants  the  things  &c.         -Gr.  bond- 
scrr-ants.         'Qr,  tliem  ■'Or.  who  cometh         s^j^ny  authorities,  some  ancient, 

read  vashed.       Heb.   9.   14  :   comp.   ch.  7.    14.         «Gr!^  in.  'Or.   God  and   his 

Father         Kiv.  unto  the  ages  of  the  ages.         Many  ancient  authorities  omit  of 
the  ages.         "Or.   he  who         ""Or.   stcd'fastness 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      61 

word  of  God  and  the  testimony  Jesus.  lo  I  was  in 
The  Trumpet  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  I  heard  behind  me 
Voice  a  great  voice,  as  of  a  trumpet  ii  saying.  What  thou 

seest,  write  in  a  book  and  send  it  to  the  seven  churches : 
unto  Ephesus,  and  unto  Smyrna,  and  unto  Pergamum, 
and  unto  Thyatira,  and  unto  Sardis,  and  unto  Phila- 
delphia, and  unto  Laodicea. 

12  And  I  turned  to  see  the  voice  that  spake  witli 
me.  And  having  turned  I  saw  seven  golden  ^candle- 
sticks; 13  and  in  the  midst  of  the  ^candlesticks  one  like 
unto  a  son  of  man,  clothed  with  a  garment  down  to 
the  foot,  and  girt  about  at  the  breasts  with  a  golden 
girdle.  14  And  his  head  and  his  hair  were  white  as 
The  Glorious  white  wool,  white  as  snow ;  and  his  eyes  were  as  a 
King-Priest  flame  of  fire;  15  and  his  feet  like  unto  burnished  brass, 
as  if  it  had  been  refined  in  a  furnace;  and  his  voice  as 
the  voice  of  many  waters.  16  And  he  had  in  his  right 
hand  seven  stars :  and  out  of  his  mouth  proceeded  a 
sharp  two-edged  sword :  and  his  countenance  was  as 
the  sun  shineth  in  his  strength. 

17  And  when  I  saw  him,  I  fell  at  his  feet  as  one 
dead.  And  he  laid  his  right  hand  upon  me,  saying, 
Fear  not ;  I  am  the  first  and  the  last,  18  and  the  Living 
one ;  and  I  ^was  dead,  and  behold,  I  am  alive  ^for  ever- 
more, and  I  have  the  keys  of  death  and  of  Hades.  19 
A  Message  of  Write  therefore  the  things  which  thou  sawest,  and  the 
Eeassurance  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  come  to 
pass  hereafter ;  20  the  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which 
thou  sawest  *in  my  right  hand,  and  the  seven  golden 
^candlesticks.  The  seven  stars  are  the  angels  of  the 
seven  churches  and  the  seven  ^candlesticks  are  seven 
churches : — 

4     The  Seven  Epistles 
O         To  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Ephesus  write: 

These  things  saith  he  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars 
in  his  right  hand,  he  that  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the 
seven  golden  ^candlesticks :  2  I  know  thy  works,  and 
thy  toil  and  ^patience,  and  that  thou  canst  not  bear  evil 
men,  and  didst  try  them  that  call  themselves  apostler^, 
and  they  are  not,  and  didst  find  them  false ;  3  and  thou 
hast  ^patience  and  didst  bear  for  my  name's  sake,  and 
The  Epistle  hast  not  grown  weary.  4  But  I  have  this  against  thee, 
to  Ephesus  that  thou  didst  leave  thy  first  love.  5  Remember  there- 
fore whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent  and  do  the  first 
works ;  or  else  I  come  to  thee,  and  will  move  thy 
^candlestick  out  of  its  place,  except  thou  repent.  6  But 

*Gr.  lampstands.         =Gr.  iecame.         'Gr.  unto  the  ages  of  the  ages.         *Gv. 
upon.         "Or,  stedfastness         ^Gr.   lampstand. 


62     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION. 

this  thou  hast,  that  thou  hatest  the  works  of  the  Nico- 
laitans,  which  I  also  hate.  7  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let 
him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  churches.  To 
him  that  overcometh,  to  him  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  ^Paradise  of  God. 

8  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Smyrna  write : 

These  things  saith  the  first  and  the  last,  who  ^was 
dead,  and  lived  again :  9  I  know  thy  tribulation,  and  thy 
poverty  (but  thou  art  rich),  and  the  ^blasphemy  of 
them  that  say  they  are  Jews,  and  they  are  not,  but  are 
a  synagogue  of  Satan.  10  Fear  not  the  things  which 
The  Epistle  thou  art  about  to  suffer:  behold,  the  devil  is  about  to 
to  Smyrna  ^ast  some  of  you  into  prison,  that  ye  may  be  tried ; 
*and  ye  shall  have  ^tribulation  ten  days.  Be  thou 
faithful  until  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  crown  of 
life.  II  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  to  the  churches.  He  that  overcometh 
shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death. 

12  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Pergamum 
write : 

These  things  saith  he  that  hath  the  sharp  two- 
edged  sword:  13  I  know  where  thou  dwellest,  even 
where  Satan's  throne  is;  and  thou  boldest  fast  my 
name,  and  didst  not  deny  my  faith,  even  in  the  days 
®of  Antipas  my  witness,  my  faithful  one,  who  was 
killed  among  you,  where  Satan  dwelleth.  14  But  I 
have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  there 
some  that  hold  the  teaching  of  Balaam,  who  taught 
Balak  to  cast  a  stumblingblock  before  the  children  of 
The  Epistle  Israel,  to  eat  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  to  commit 
to  Pergamum  fornication.  15  So  hast  thou  also  some  that  hold  the 
teaching  of  the  Nicolaitans  in  like  manner.  16  Repent 
therefore;  or  else  I  come  to  thee  quickly,  and  I  will 
make  war  against  them  with  the  sword  of  my  mouth. 
17  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  to  the  churches.  To  him  that  overcometh,  to 
him  will  I  give  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  I  will  give 
him  a  white  stone,  and  upon  the  stone  a  new  name 
written,  which  no  one  knoweth  but  he  that  receiveth 
it. 

18  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Thyatira 
write : 

These  things  saith  the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  his 
eyes  like  a  flame  of  fire,  and  his  feet  are  like  unto 
burnished  brass:  19  I  know  thy  works,  and  thy  love 
and  faith  and  ministry  and  '^patience,  and  that  thy  last 

^Or,  garden  :  as  In  Gen.  2.8.  -Gr.  became.  'Or,  revilinp  ^Some  ancient 
authorities  read  and  may  have.  °Gr.  a  tribulation  of  ten  days.  'The  Greek 
text  here  Is  somewhat  uncertain         'Or  stedfastnena 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.       63 

works  are  more  than  the  first.  20  But  I  have  this 
against  thee,  that  thou  sufferest  ^the  woman  Jezebel, 
who  calleth  herself  a  prophetess;  and  she  teacheth 
and  seduceth  my  ^servants  to  commit  fornication,  and 
to  eat  things  sacrificed  to  idols.  21  And  I  gave  her 
time  that  she  should  repent ;  and  she  willeth  not  to  re- 
pent of  her  fornication.  22  Behold,  I  cast  her  into  a 
bed,  and  them  that  commit  adultery  with  her  into  great 
tribulation,  except  they  repent  of  ^her  works.  23  And 
The  Epistle  I  wiU  kill  her  children  with  *death ;  and  all  the 
toTbyatira  churches  shall  know  that  I  am  he  that  searcheth  the 
reins  and  hearts :  and  I  will  give  unto  each  one  of  you 
according  to  your  works.  24  But  to  you  I  say,  to  the 
rest  that  are  in  Thyatira,  as  many  as  have  not  this 
teaching,  who  know  not  the  deep  things  of  Satan,  as 
they  are  wont  to  say ;  I  cast  upon  you  none  other  bur- 
den. 25  Nevertheless  that  which  ye  have,  hold  fast 
till  I  come.  26  And  he  that  overcometh,  and  he  that 
keepeth  my  works  unto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give 
authority  over  the  ^nations :  27  and  he  shall  rule  them 
with  a  rod  of  ''iron,  as  the  vessels  of  the  potter  are 
broken  to  shivers ;  as  I  also  have  received  of  my 
Father:  28  and  I  will  give  him  the  morning  star.  29 
He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  to  the  churches. 

O  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Sardis  write : 

These  things  saith  he  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits 
of  God,  and  the  seven  stars :  I  know  thy  works,  that 
thou  hast  a  name  that  thou  livest,  and  thou  art  dead. 
2  Be  thou  watchful,  and  establish  the  things  that  re- 
main, which  were  ready  to  die:  for  I  have  ''found  no 
works  of  thine  perfected  before  my  God.  3  Remem- 
ber therefore  how  thou  hast  received  and  didst  hear; 
and  keep  it,  and  repent.  If  therefore  thou  shalt  not 
The  Epistle  watch,  I  will  come  as  a  thief,  and  thou  shalt  not  know 
to  Sardis  what  hour  I  will  come  upon  thee.  4  But  thou  hast  a 
few  names  in  Sardis  that  did  not  defile  their  garments : 
and  they  shall  walk  with  me  in  white ;  for  they  are 
worthy.  5  He  that  overcometh  shall  thus  be  arrayed 
in  white  garments ;  and  I  will  in  no  wise  blot  his  name 
out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  I  will  confess  his  name  be- 
fore my  Father,  and  before  his  angels.  6  He  that  hath 
an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the 
churches. 

7  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia 
write : 

iMany  authorities,  some  ancient,  read  tin/  wife.     =Gr.  hond servants.     'Many 
ancient   authorities   read   their.  ''Or,   pestilence   Sept.,   Ex.   5.   3,   &c.  ^Or, 

Gentiles         ^Or,  iron;  as  vessels  of  the  potter,  are  they  broketi       'Many  ancient 
authorities  read  not  found  thy  works. 


64     STUDIES  m  the  BOOK   OF  EEVELATION. 

These  things  saith  he  that  is  holy,  he  that  is  true, 
he  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  he  that  openeth  and 
none  shall  shut,  and  that  shutteth  and  none  openeth : 
8  I  know  thy  works  (behold,  I  have  ^set  before  thee  a 
door  opened,  which  none  can  shut),  that  thou  hast  a 
little  power,  and  didst  keep  my  word,  and  didst  not 
deny  my  name.  9  Behold,  I  give  of  the  synagogue  of 
Satan,  of  them  that  say  they  are  Jews,  and  they  are 
not,  but  do  lie;  behold,  I  will  make  them  to  come  and 
The  Epistle  to  ^worship  before  thy  feet,  and  to  know  that  I  have 
Philadelphia  loved  thee.  lo  Because  thou  didst  keep  the  word  of 
my  ^patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of 
*trial,  that  hour  which  is  to  come  upon  the  whole 
''world,  to  ^'try  them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth.  11  I 
come  quickly :  hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast,  that  no 
one  take  thy  crown.  12  He  that  overcometh,  I  will 
make  him  a  pillar  in  the  ^temple  of  my  God,  and  he 
shall  go  out  thence  no  more :  and  I  will  write  upon 
him  the  name  of  my  God,  and  the  name  of  the  city  of 
my  God,  the  new  Jerusalem,  which  cometh  down  out 
of  heaven  from  my  God,  and  mine  own  new  name. 
13  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  to  the  churches. 

14  And  to  the  angel   of  the  church   in  Laodicea 
write : 

These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true 
Avitness,  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God:  15  I 
know  thy  works,  that  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot : 
I  wo,uld  thou  wert  cold  or  hot,  16  So  because  thou 
art  lukewarm,  and  neither  hot  nor  cold,  I  will  spew 
thee  out  of  my  mouth.  17  Because  thou  sayest,  I  am 
rich,  and  have  gotten  riches,  and  have  need  of  nothing; 
and  knowest  not  that  thou  art  the  wretched  one  and 
miserable  and  poor  and  blind  and  naked :  18  I  coun- 
sel thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  refined  by  fire,  that  thou 
The  Epistle  mayest  become  rich ;  and  white  garments,  that  thou 
to  Laodicea  mayest  clothe  thyself,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy  naked- 
ness be  not  made  manifest;  and  eye-salve  to  anoint 
thine  eyes,  that  thou  mayest  see.  19  As  many  as  I 
love,  I  reprove  and  chasten :  be  zealous  therefore,  and 
repent.  20  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock:  if 
any  man  hear  my  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come 
in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me. 
21  He  that  overcometh,  I  will  give  to  him  to  sit  down 
with  me  in  my  throne,  as  I  also  overcame,  and  sat 
down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne.     22  He  that  hath 

^Gr.  given.  ^rpijg  Greek  word  denotes  an  act  of  reverence,  whether  paid 
to  a  creature  or  to  the  Creator.  'Or.  stedfastness  ■'Or,  temptation  ''Gr. 
inhaiited   earth.  «0r,    tempt  'Or.   sanctuary 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      65 


A  Door 
Opened 
in  Heaven 


The  Tbrone 
and  the  King 


The  Four  and 

Twenty 

Elders 


The  Seven 
Lamps  of  Fire 


an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  church- 
es 

II     THE  MAIN  APOCALYPSE 

1     The  Vision  of  God  on  the  Throne 
(The  Throne  During  Conflict) 

After  these  things  I  saw,  and  behold,  a  door  op- 
ened  in  heaven,  and  the  first  voice  that  I  heard,  a  voice 
as  of  a  trumpet  speaking  with  me,  one  saying.  Come 
up  hither,  and  I  will  show  thee  the  things  which  must 
^come  to  pass  hereafter. 

2  Straightway  I  was  in  the  Spirit :  and  behold, 
there  was  a  throne  set  in  heaven,  and  one  sitting  upon 
the  throne;  3  and  he  that  sat  was  to  look  upon  like  a 
jasper  stone  and  a  sardius:  and  there  was  a  rainbow 
round  about  the  throne,  like  an  emerald  to  look  upon. 

4  And  round  about  the  throne  were  four  and 
twenty  thrones:  and  upon  the  thrones  /  saw  four  and 
twenty  elders  sitting,  arrayed  in  white  garments;  and 
on  their  heads  crowns  of  gold. 

5  And  out  of  the  throne  proceed  lightnings  and 
voices  and  thunders.  And  there  were  seven  lamps  of 
fire  burning  before  the  throne,  which  are  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God ; 

6  And  before  the  throne,  as  it  were  a  ^sea  of  glass 
like  unto  crystal ;  and  in  the  midst  ^of  the  throne,  and 
round  about  the  throne,  four  living  creatures  full  of 
eyes  before  and  behind.  7  And  the  first  creature  was 
like  a  lion,  and  the  second  creature  like  a  calf,  and  the 
third  creature  had  a  face  as  of  a  man,  and  the  fourth 
creature  was  like  a  flying  eagle.  8  And  the  four  liv- 
ing creatures,  having  each  one  of  them  six  wings,  are 
full  of  eyes  round  about  and  within :  and  they  have  no 
rest  day  and  night,  saying. 

Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  God,  the  Almighty, 
who  was  and  who  is  and  *who  is  to  come. 
9  And    when    the    living    creatures    shall    give    glory 
and   honor   and   thanks    to    him    that    sitteth    on    the 
throne,  to  him  that  liveth  ^for  ever  and  ever,  10  the 
four  and  twenty  elders  shall  fall  down  before  him  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  shall  worship  him  that  liveth 
^for  ever  and  ever,  and  shall  cast  their  crowns  before 
the  throne,  saying, 
II  Worthy  art  thou,  our  Lord  and  our  God,  to  re- 
ceive the  glory  and  the  honor  and  the  power:  for 
thou  didst  create  all  things,  and  because  of  thy  will 
they  were,  and  were  created. 

iQr,  come  to  pans.  After  these  thinf/s  straightway,  &c.  =0r,  glassy  sea 
•Or,  before  See  ch.  7.17.  comp.  5.  6.  ^Or,  icho  cometh  "Qr.  unto  the  ages 
of  the  ages. 


The  Four 

Iiiving 

Creatures 


The  Creation 
Chorus 


66     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Sealed 
Book 


The  Lamb 


The  Book 
Taken  and 
Worship 
Rendered 


'  And  I  saw  ^in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on 

the  throne  a  book  written  within  and  on  the  back,  close 
sealed  with  seven  seals.  2  And  I  saw  a  strong  angel 
proclaiming  with  a  great  voice,  Who  is  worthy  to  open 
the  book,  and  to  loose  the  seals  thereof?  3  And  no 
one  in  the  heaven,  or  on  the  earth,  or  under  the  earth, 
was  able  to  open  the  book,  or  to  look  thereon.     4  And 

I  wept  much,  because  no  one  was  found  worthy  to 
open  the  book,  or  to  look  thereon:  5  and  one  of  the 
elders  saith  unto  me,  Weep  not;  behold,  the  Lion  that 
is  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  Root  of  David,  hath  over- 
come to  open  the  book  and  the  seven  seals  thereof. 

6  And  I  saw  ^in  the  midst  of  the  throne  and  of 
the  four  living  creatures,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
elders,  a  Lamb  standing,  as  though  it  had  been  slain, 
having  seven  horns,  and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the 
^seven  Spirits  of  God,  sent  forth  into  all  the  earth. 

7  And  he  came,  and  he  *taketh  it  out  of  the  right 
hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the  throne.  8  And  when  he 
had  taken  the  book,  the  four  living  creatures  and  the 
four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the  Lamb,  hav- 
ing each  one  a  harp,  and  golden  bowls  full  of  incense, 
which  are  the  prayers  of  the  saints. 

9  And  they  sing  a  new  song,  saying. 
Worthy  art  thou  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the 
seals  thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  didst  pur- 
chase unto  God  with  thy  blood  men  of  every  tribe, 
and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation,  10  and  madest 
them  to  be  unto  our  God  a  kingdom  and  priests; 
and  they  reign  upon  the  earth. 

II  And  I  saw,  and  I  heard  a  voice  of  many  angels 
round  about  the  throne  and  the  living  creatures  and 
the  elders;  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten  thou- 
sand times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands; 

12  saying  with  a  great  voice, 

Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  hath  been  slain  to  receive 
the  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  might,  and 
honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing. 

13  And  every  created  thing  which  is  in  the  heaven, 
and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  on 
the  sea,  and  all  things  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  say- 
ing, 

Unto  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  unto  the 
Lamb,  be  the  blessing,  and  the  honor,  and  the 
glory,  and  the  dominion,  '  for  ever  and  ever. 

14  And  the  four  living  creatures  said.  Amen.  And 
the  elders  fell  down  and  ''worshipped. 

^Gr.  on.         20r,  hetween  the  throne  with  the  four  living  creatures,  and  the 
elders  'Some  ancient  authorities  omit  seven.  ^Gr.   hath  taken.  ^Gr. 

unto  the  ages  of  the  ages.         'See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.9. 


The 

Bedemption 

Chorus 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     67 


The  First 
Seal 


Tbe  Second 
Seal 


The  Third 
Seal 


The  Fourth 
Seal 


The  Fifth 
Seal 


2    The  Vision  of  the  Seven  Seals 

(The  Church's  Trial  Foreshown) 

And  I  saw  when  the  Lamb  opened  one  of  the  sev- 
'en  seals,  and  I  heard  one  of  the  four  Hving  creatures 
saying  as  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  Come^.  2  And  I 
saw,  and  behold,  a  white  horse,  and  he  that  sat  there- 
on had  a  bow ;  and  there  was  given  unto  him  a  crown : 
and  he  came  forth  conquering,  and  to  conquer. 

3  And  when  he  opened  the  second  seal,  I  heard  the 
second  living  creature  saying,  Come^.  4  And  another 
horse  came  forth,  a  red  horse :  and  to  him  that  sat 
thereon  it  was  given  to  take  ^peace  from  the  earth, 
and  that  they  should  slay  one  another :  and  there  was 
given  unto  him  a  great  sword. 

5  And  when  he  opened  the  third  seal,  I  heard  the 
third  living  creature  saying,  Corned  And  I  saw,  and 
behold,  a  black  horse;  and  he  that  sat  thereon  had  a 
balance  in  his  hand.  6  And  I  heard  as  it  were  a  voice 
in  the  midst  of  the  four  living  creatures  saying,  ^A 
measure  of  wheat  for  a  ^shilling,  and  three  measures 
of  barley  for  a  ^shilling;  and  the  oil  and  the  wine  hurt 
thou  not. 

7  And  when  he  opened  the  fourth  seal,  I  heard 
the  voice  of  the  fourth  living  creature  saying,  Come^. 
8  And  I  saw,  and  behold,  a  pale  horse :  and  he  that  sat 
upon  him,  his  name  was  Death;  and  Hades  followed 
with  him.  And  there  was  given  unto  them  authority 
over  the  fourth  part  of  the  earth,  to  kill  with  sword, 
and  with  famine,  and  with  Meath,  and  by  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  earth. 

9  And  when  he  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  under- 
neath the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  had  been  slain 
for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they 
held:  10  and  they  cried  with  a  great  voice,  saying, 
How  long,  O  Master,  the  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not 
judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the 
earth?  11  And  there  was  given  them  to  each  one  a 
white  robe;  and  it  was  said  unto  them,  that  they 
should  rest  yet  for  a  little  time,  until  their  fellow-serv- 
ants also  and  their  brethren,  who  should  be  killed 
even  as  they  were,  should  %ave  fulfilled  their  course. 
12  And  I  saw  when  he  opened  the  sixth  seal,  and 
there  was  a  great  earthquake;  and  the  sun  became 


iSome  ancient  authorities  add  and  see.  ^Some  ancient  authorities  read 
The  peace  of  the  earth.  ^Or,  A  choenix  (i.  e.  about  a  quart,)  of  wheat  for  a 
shilling— imvi\Yins  great  scarcity.  Comp.  Ezek.  4.16  f. ;  5.  16.  ^See  marginal 
note  on  Mt.  18.28  'Or,  pestilence  Comp.  ch.  2.  23  marg.  ^Some  ancient 
authorities  read  be  fulfilled,  in  number.  2  Esdr.  4.  36. 


68     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Sixth 
S«al 


The  Angels 
Holding  the 
Winds 


The  Nmnber 
Sealed  from 
the  Tribes 


black  as  sackcloth  of  hair,  and  the  whole  moon  became 
as  blood;  13  and  the  stars  of  the  heaven  fell  unto  the 
earth,  as  a  fig  tree  casteth  her  unripe  figs  when  she  is 
shaken  of  a  great  wind.  14  And  the  heaven  was  re- 
moved as  a  scroll  when  it  is  rolled  up;  and  every 
mountain  and  island  were  moved  out  of  their  places. 
15  And  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  the  princes,  and  the 
^chief  captains,  and  the  rich,  and  the  strong,  and 
every  bondman  and  freeman,  hid  themselves  in  the 
caves  and  in  the  rocks  of  the  mountains;  16  and  they 
say  to  the  mountains  and  to  the  rocks.  Fall  on  us,  and 
hide  us  from  the  face  of  him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb:  17  for  the 
great  day  of  their  wrath  is  come;  and  who  is  able  to 
stand  ? 

2b    The  Episode  of  the  Sealed  Ones 
(An  Intervening  Vision  of  Salvation  Assured) 
(A)     The  Sealed  of  Israel 
'7  r  After  this  I  saw  four  angels  standing  at  the 

I  four  corners  of  the  earth,  holding  the  four  winds 
of  the  earth,  that  no  wind  should  blow  on  the  earth,  or 
on  the  sea,  or  upon  any  tree.  2  And  I  saw  another 
angel  ascend  from  the  sunrising,  having  the  seal  of  the 
living  God :  and  he  cried  with  a  great  voice  to  the  four 
angels  to  whom  it  was  given  to  hurt  the  earth  and  the 
sea,  3  saying.  Hurt  not  the  earth,  neither  the  sea,  nor 
the  trees,  till  we  shall  have  sealed  the  ^servants  of  our 
God  on  their  foreheads. 

4  And  I  heard  the  number  of  them  that  were 
sealed,  a  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousand,  sealed 
out  of  every  tribe  of  the  children  of  Israel : 

5  Of  the  tribe  of  Judah  were  sealed    twelve    thou- 
sand; 

Of  the  tribe  of  Reuben  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Gad  twelve  thousand; 

6  Of  the  tribe  of  Asher  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh    twelve    thousand; 

7  Of  the  tribe  of  Simeon  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Levi  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Issachar  twelve  thousand; 

8  Of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Joseph  twelve  thousand; 
Of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin     were     sealed     twelve 
thousand. 


iQr,   military   tribunes       Gr.   chiliarchs. 


^Gr.   bondservants. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      69 

(B)     The  Redeemed  Out  of  All  Nations 

9  After  these  things  I  saw,  and  behold,  a  great 
The  Countless  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  out  of  every 
Multitude       nation  and  of  all  tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues,  stand- 
ing before  the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb,  arrayed  in 
white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands  ; 

10  And  they  ciy  with  a  great  voice,  saying, 
Salvation  unto  our  God  who  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  unto  the  Lamb. 

II  And  all  the  angels  were  standing  round  about 
The  Salvation  the  throne,  and  about  the  elders  and  the  four  living 
Chorus  creatures;   and  they  fell  before  the  throne  on  their 

faces,  and  worshipped  God,  12  saying, 
Amen:     ^Blessing,    and    glory,    and    wisdom,    and 
thanksgiving,  and  honor,  and  power,  and  might,  be 
unto  our  God  ^for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

13  And  one  of  the  elders  answered,  saying  unto 
me.  These  that  are  arrayed  in  the  white  robes,  who  are 
they,  and  whence  came  they  ?  14  And  I  ^say  unto  him. 
My  lord,  thou  knowest.  And  he  said  to  me.  These  are 
they  that  come  out  of  the  great  tribulation,  and  they 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb.  15  Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne 
The  Great  of  God ;  and  they  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  *tem- 
Beward  pig-  ^nd  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  spread  his 

tabernacle  over  them.  16  They  shall  hunger  no  more, 
neither  fliirst  any  more ;  neither  shall  the  sun  strike 
upon  them,  nor  any  heat:  17  for  the  Lamb  that  is  in 
the  midst  ^of  the  throne  shall  be  their  shepherd,  and 
shall  guide  them  unto  fountains  of  waters  of  life:  1 
and  God  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their  eyes.  J 
Q  And  when  he  opened  the  seventh  seal,  there  fol- 

^  lowed  a  silence  in  heaven  about  the  space  of  half  an 
hour. 


The  Seventh 
Seal 


3    The  Vision  of  the  Seven  Trumpets 
(The  World's  Judgment  Proclaimed) 
(A)     The  Preparation  for  the  Trumpets 
liven  Seven*  2  And  I  saw  the  seven  angels  that  stand  before 

Trumpets       God ;  and  there  were  given  unto  them  seven  trumpets. 
3  And  another  angel  came  and  stood  ^over  the 
altar,  having  a  golden  censer ;  and  there  was  given  unto 
him  much  incense,  that  he  should  ^add  it  unto  the  pray- 
^th^^e*^      ers  of  all  the  saints  upon  the  golden  altar  which  was 
Incense  before  the  throne.     4  And  the  smoke  of  the  incense, 

^with  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  went  up  before  God 

»Gr,  The  hlessing.  and  the  glory,  &c.  ^Gr.  unto  the  ages  of  the  ages.  »Gr. 
have  said.  ^Or,  sanctuary  ^Or,  before  See  ch.  4.  6 ;  comp.  5.  6.  •Or,  at 
'Gr.  give.         'Or,  for 


The  First 
Trumpet 


The  Second 
Trumpet 


70     STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

out  of  the  angel's  hand.  5  And  the  angel  Haketh  the 
censer;  and  he  filled  it  with  the  fire  of  the  altar,  and 
cast  it  ^upon  the  earth:  and  there  followed  thunders, 
and  voices,  and  lightnings,  and  an  earthquake. 

Made^Re^dy*^         6  And  the  seven  angels  that  had  the  seven  trum- 
to  Sound        pets  prepared  themselves  to  sound. 

( B  )     The  Trumpets  Sounded 

7  And  the  first  sounded,  and  there  followed  hail 
and  fire,  mingled  with  blood,  and  they  were  cast  ^upon 
the  earth :  and  the  third  part  of  the  earth  was  burnt  up, 
and  the  third  part  of  the  trees  was  burnt  up,  and  all 
green  grass  was  burnt  up. 

8  And  the  second  angel  sounded,  and  as  it  were 
a  great  mountain  burning  with  fire  was  cast  into  the 
sea:  and  the  third  part  of  the  sea  became  blood;  g 
and  there  died  the  third  part  of  the  creatures  which 
were  in  the  sea,  even  they  that  had  life;  and  the  third 
part  of  the  ships  was  destroyed. 

lo  And  the  third  angel  sounded,  and  there  fell 
from  heaven  a  great  star,  burning  as  a  torch,  and  it  fell 
upon  the  third  part  of  the  fivers,  and  upon  the  foun- 
tains of  the  waters;  ii  and  the  name  of  the  star  is 
called  Wormwood:  and  the  third  part  of  the  waters 
became  wormwood ;  and  many  men  died  of  the  waters, 
because  they  were  made  bitter. 

12  And  the  fourth  angel  sounded,  and  the  third 
part  of  the  sun  was  smitten,  and  the  third  part  of  the 
moon,  and  the  third  part  of  the  stars;  that  the  third 
part  of  them  should  be  darkened,  and  the  day  should 
not  shine  for  the  third  part  of  it,  and  the  night  in  like 
manner. 

(13  And  I  saw,  and  I  heard  ^an  eagle,  flying  in  mid 
heaven,  saying  with  a  great  voice,  Woe,  woe,  woe, 
The  Eagle-Cry  fQ I-  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  by  reason  of  the 

other  voices  of  the  trumpet  of  the  three  angels,  who  \ 
are  yet  to  sound.  / 

Q  And  the  fifth  angel  sounded,  and  I  saw  a  star 
^  from  heaven  fallen  unto  the  earth :  and  there  was 
given  to  him  the  key  of  the  pit  of  the  abyss.  2  And 
he  opened  the  pit  of  the  abyss ;  and  there  went  up 
a  smoke  out  of  the  pit,  as  the  smoke  of  a  great  furnace ; 
and  the  sun  and  the  air  were  darkened  by  reason  of 
the  smoke  of  the  pit.  3  And  out  of  the  smoke  came 
forth  locusts  upon  the  earth;  and  power  was  given 
them,  as  the  scorpions  of  the  earth  have  power.     4  And 


The  Third 
Trumpet 


The  Fourth 
Trumpet 


'Gr.  hath  taken. 


^Or,  into         'Gr.  one  eagle. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      71 


The  Fifth 
Trumpet 


The  First 
Woe  Ended 


it  was  said  unto  them  that  they  should  not  hurt  the 
grass  of  the  earth,  neither  any  green  thing,  neither 
any  tree,  but  only  such  men  as  have  not  the  seal  of 
God  on  their  foreheads.  5  And  it  was  given  them 
that  they  should  not  kill  them,  but  that  they  should 
be  tormented  five  months:  and  their  torment  was  as 
the  torment  of  a  scorpion,  when  it  striketh  a  man.  6 
And  in  those  days  men  shall  seek  death,  and  shall  in 
no  wise  find  it ;  and  they  shall  desire  to  die,  and  death 
fleeth  from  them.  7  And  the  ^shapes  of  the  locusts 
were  like  unto  horses  prepared  for  war;  and  upon 
their  heads  as  it  were  crowns  like  unto  gold,  and  their 
faces  were  as  men's  faces,  8  And  they  had  hair  as 
the  hair  of  women,  and  their  teeth  were  as  the  teeth 
of  lions.  9  And  they  had  breastplates,  as  it  were 
breastplates  of  iron;  and  the  sound  of  their  wings  was 
as  the  sound  of  chariots,  of  many  horses  rushing  to 
war.  10  And  they  have  tails  like  unto  scorpions,  and 
stings ;  and  in  their  tails  is  their  power  to  hurt  men  five 
months.  11  They  have  over  them  as  king  the  angel 
of  the  abyss:  his  name  in  Hebrew  is  Abaddon,  and  in 
the  Greek  tongue  he  hath  the  name  ^Apollyon. 
/  12  The  first  Woe  is  past:  behold  there  come  \ 

\  yet  two  Woes  hereafter.  / 

13  And  the  sixth  angel  sounded,  and  I  heard  ^a 
voice  from  the  horns  of  the  golden  altar  which  is  be- 
fore God,  14  one  saying  to  the  sixth  angel  that  had  the 
trumpet,  Loose  the  four  angels  that  are  bound  at  the 
great  river  Euphrates.  15  And  the  four  angels  were 
loosed,  that  had  been  prepared  for  the  hour  and  day 
and  month  and  year,  that  they  should  kill  the  third 
part  of  men.  16  And  the  number  of  the  armies  of  the 
horsemen  was  twice  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand: 
I  heard  the  number  of  them.  17  And  thus  I  saw  the 
horses  in  the  vision,  and  them  that  sat  on  them,  having 
breastplates  as  of  fire  and  of  hyacinth  and  of  brim- 
stone :  and  the  heads  of  the  horses  are  as  the  heads  of 
lions ;  and  out  of  their  mouths  proceedeth  fire  and 
smoke  and  brimstone.  18  By  these  three  plagues  was 
the  third  part  of  men  killed,  by  the  fire  and  the  smoke 
and  the  brimstone,  which  proceeded  out  of  their 
mouths.  19  For  the  power  of  the  horses  is  in  their 
mouth,  and  in  their  tails :  for  their  tails  are  like  unto 
serpents,  and  have  heads;  and  with  them  they  hurt. 
20  And  the  rest  of  mankind,  who  were  not  killed  with 
these  plagues,  repented  not  of  the  works  of  their  hands, 
that  they  should  not  ^worship  demons,  and  the  idols 

iQr  likenesses. 
note  on  ch.  3.  9. 


The  Sixth 
Trumpet 


=That  is,  Destroyer.         'Gr.  one  voice. 


^See  marginal 


72     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  brass,  and  of  stone,  and 
of  wood;  which  can  neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor  walk: 
21  and  they  repented  not  of  their  murders,  nor  of  their 
sorceries,  nor  of  their  fornication,  nor  of  their  thefts. 

3b     The  Episode  of  the  Angel  with  the  Book 

AND  OF  the  Two   WITNESSES 


10[ 


(An  Intervening  Vision  of  Divine  Help  Attained) 

(A)     The  Angel  with  the  Little  Open  Book 

And  I  saw  another  strong  angel  coming  down 
out  of  heaven,  arrayed  with  a  cloud ;  and  the  rain- 
bow was  upon  his  head,  and  his  face  was  as  the  sun, 
Com^g^DVwn  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^'  ^^  pillars  of  fire ;  2  and  he  had  in  his  hand 
Out  of  Heaven  a  little  book  Open:  and  he  set  his  right  foot  upon  the 
sea,  and  his  left  upon  the  earth ;  3  and  he  cried  with 
a  great  voice,  as  a  lion  roareth : 

And  when  he  cried,  the  seven  thunders  uttered 

their  voices.     4  And  when  the  seven  thunders  uttered 

The  Thunder-  their  voices,  I  w^as  about  to  write :  and  I  heard  a  voice 

Voices  from  heaven  saying,  Seal  up  the  things  which  the  seven 

thunders  uttered,  and  write  them  not. 

5  And  the  angel  that  I  saw  standing  upon  the  sea 
and  upon  the  earth  lifted  up  his  right  hand  to  heaven, 
6  and  sware  by  him  that  liveth  ^for  ever  and  ever,  who 
created  the  heaven  and  the  things  that  are  therein,  and 
The  Mystery  the  earth  and  the  things  that  are  therein,  ^and  the  sea 
of  God  to  End  and  the  things  that  are  therein,  that  there  shall  be  ^de- 
lay no  longer:  7  but  in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the 
seventh  angel,  when  he  is  about  to  sound,  then  is 
finished  the  mystery  of  God,  according  to  the  good  tid- 
ings which  he  declared  to  his  ^servants  the  prophets. 

8  And  the  voice  which  I  heard  from  heaven,  /  heard 
it  again  speaking  with  me,  and  saying.  Go,  take  the 
book  which  is  open  in  the  hand  of  the  angel  that 
standeth  upon  the  sea  and  upon  the  earth.  9  And  I 
went  unto  the  angel,  saying  unto  him  that  he  should 
The  Book  give  me  the  little  book.  And  he  saith  unto  me.  Take 
Eaten  \^^  ^nd  eat  it  up;  and  it  shall  make  thy  belly  bitter, 

but  in  thy  mouth  it  shall  be  sweet  as  honey.  10  And  I 
took  the  little  book  out  of  the  angel's  hand,  and  ate 
it  up ;  and  it  was  in  my  mouth  sweet  as  honey :  and 
when  I  had  eaten  it,  my  belly  was  made  bitter.  1 1 
And  they  say  unto  me.  Thou  must  prophesy  again 
^over  many  peoples  and  nations  and  tongues  and  kings. 

iQr.  unto  the  ayes  of  the  apes.  -Some  ancient  authorities  omit  and  the 
sea  and  the  things  that  are  therein.  'Or,  time  <Gr.  bondservants.  »0r, 
concerning  Comp.  Jn.   12.   16. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OP  REVELATION.     73 


11 


The  Temple 
Measured 


The  Two 
Witnesses 
with  Power 


(B)     The  Two  Witnesses 

And  there  was  given  me  a  reed  Hke  unto  a  rod: 
^and  one  said,  Rise,  and  measure  the  -temple  of  God, 
and  the  altar,  and  them  that  worship  therein.  2  And 
the  court  which  is  without  the  ^temple  ^leave  without, 
and  measure  it  not;  for  it  hath  been  given  unto  the 
^nations:  and  the  holy  city  shall  they  tread  under 
foot  forty  and  two  months. 

3  And  I  will  give  unto  my  two  witnesses,  and  they 
shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore 
days,  clothed  in  sackcloth.  4  These  are  the  two  olive 
trees  and  the  two  '^candlesticks,  standing  before  the 
Lord  of  the  earth.  5  And  if  any  man  desireth  to  hurt 
them,  fire  proceedeth  out  of  their  mouth  and  devoureth 
their  enemies  ;  and  if  any  man  shall  desire  to  hurt  them, 
in  this  manner  must  he  be  killed.  6  These  have  the 
power  to  shut  the  heaven,  that  it  rain  not  during 
the  days  of  their  prophecy :  and  they  have  power  over 
the  waters  to  turn  them  into  blood,  and  to  smite  the 
earth  with  every  plague,  as  often  as  they  shall  desire. 

7  And  when  they  shall  have  finished  their  testi- 
mony, the  beast  that  cometh  up  out  of  the  abyss  shall 
make  war  with  them,  and  overcome  them,  and  kill 
them.  8  And  their  Mead  bodies  /ie  in  the  street  of  the 
great  city,  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt, 
where  also  their  Lord  was  crucified.  9  And  from 
among  the  peoples  and  tribes  and  tongues  and  nations 
do  men  look  upon  their  ''dead  bodies  three  days  and  a 
half,  and  suffer  not  their  dead  bodies  to  be  laid  in  a 
tomb.  10  And  they  that  dwell  on  the  earth  rejoice 
over  them,  and  make  merry ;  and  they  shall  send  gifts 
one  to  another;  because  these  two  prophets  tormented 
them  that  dwell  on  the  earth. 

II  And  after  the  three  days  and  a  half  the  breath 
of  life  from  God  entered  into  them,  and  they  stood  up- 
on their  feet;  and  great  fear  fell  upon  them  that  be- 
held them.     12  And  they  heard  a  great  voice  from 
THeir  heaven  saying  unto  them,  Come  up  hither.     And  they 

Besurrection  .  P  -I'li  j^i-  •       u 

and  Ascension  went  Up  mto  heaven  m  the  cloud;  and  their  enemies  be- 
held them.  13  And  in  that  hour  there  was  a  great 
earthquake,  and  the  tenth  part  of  the  city  fell;  and 
there  were  killed  in  the  earthquake  ^seven  thousanc 
persons:  and  the  rest  were  affrighted,  and  gave  "" 
glory  to  the  God  of  heaven. 
/  14  The  second  Woe  is  past :  behold,  the  third 


Their 

Testimony 

Finished 


The  iSecond 
Woe  Ended 


Woe  cometh  quickly. 


^Gr.   saying.     =0r,   sanctuary     »Gr.   cast  without.     ■'Or,    Gentiles     Kir.    lamp- 
stands.      Kir.    carcase.      'Gr.      names    of   men,    seven   thousand.      Comp.    ch.    3-4, 


74     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Seventh 
Trumpet 


The  Victory 
Chorus 


Tokens  of 
Judgment 


15  And  the  seventh  angel  sounded;  and  there 
followed  great  voices  in  heaven,  and  they  said, 

The  kingdom  of  the  world  is  become  the  kingdom 
of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ :  and  he  shall  reign 
^for  ever  and  ever. 

16  And  the  four  and  twenty  elders,  who  sit  be- 
fore God  on  their  thrones,  fell  upon  their  faces  and 
worshipped  God,  17  saying. 

We  give  thee  thanks,  O  Lord  God,  the  Almighty, 
who  art  and  who  wast;  because  thou  hast  taken  thy 
great  power,  and  didst  reign.  18  And  the  nations 
were  wroth,  and  thy  wrath  came,  and  the  time  of 
the  dead  to  be  judged,  and  the  time  to  give  their 
reward  to  thy  ^servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the 
saints,  and  to  them  that  fear  thy  name,  the  small 
and  the  great;  and  to  destroy  them  that  destroy  the 
earth. 

19  And  there  was  opened  the  ^temple  of  God  that 
is  in  heaven ;  and  there  was  seen  in  his  ^temple  the  ark 
of  his  covenant;  and  there  followed  lightnings,  and 
voices,  and  thunders,  and  an  earthquake,  and  great 
hail. 

4      The  Vision  of  Conflict 

(The  Church-Historic  World-Conflict  of  the  Evil 
against  the  Just) 

(A)     The  Woman  and  the  Dragon 

And  a  great  sign  was  seen  in  heaven:  a  woman 
arrayed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet, 
and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars;  2  and 
she  was  with  child;  and  she  crieth  out,  travailing  in 
birth,  and  in  pain  to  be  delivered.  3  And  there  was 
The  Woman's  seen  another  sign  in  heaven:  and  behold,  a  great  red 
Drain's  ^  dragon,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  upon 
his  heads  seven  diadems.  4  And  his  tail  draweth  the 
third  part  of  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  did  cast  them  to 
the  earth:  and  the  dragon  standeth  before  the  woman 
that  is  about  to  be  delivered,  that  when  she  is  delivered 
he  may  devour  her  child. 

5  And  she  was  delivered  of  a  son,  a  man  child, 
who  is  to  rule  all  the  ^nations  with  a  rod  of  iron :  and 
her  child  was  caught  up  unto  God,  and  unto  his  throne. 

6  And  the  woman  fled  into  the  wilderness,  where 
The  Woman's  shc  hath  a  place  prepared  of  God,  that  there  they  may 

nourish  her  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore 
days. 


12 


Power 


The 

All-Ruling 
Man-Child 


Escape 


'Gr.  unto  the  ages  of  the  ayes. 
Oentiles 


=Gr.  bondservants.       'Or.  sanctuary       <0r 


STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     75 


Michael 
Warring 
witb  the 
Dragon 


Satan's 

Downfall 

Proclaimed 


(B)     War  in  Heaven 

[7  And  there  was  war  in  heaven :  Michael  and 
his  angels  going  forth  to  war  with  the  dragon;  and 
the  dragon  warred  and  his  angels ;  8  and  they  prevailed 
not,  neither  was  their  place  found  any  more  in  heaven. 
9  And  the  great  dragon  was  cast  down,  the  old  ser- 
pent, he  that  is  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  the  deceiver 
of  the  whole  ^world;  he  was  cast  down  to  the  earth, 
and  his  angels  were  cast  down  with  him. 

10  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  in  heaven,  saying, 

^Now  is  come  the  salvation,  and  the  power,  and 

the  kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  authority  of  his 

Christ:  for   the   accuser   of    our   brethren    is    cast 

down,  who  accuseth  them  before  our  God  day  and 

night.     II  And  they  overcame  him  because  of  the 

blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  because  of  the  word  of 

their  testimony;  and  they  loved  not  their  life  even 

unto  death.     12  Therefore  rejoice,  O  heavens,  and 

ye  that  ^dwell  in  them.     Woe  for  the  earth  and  for 

the  sea:  because  the  devil  is  gone  down  unto  you, 

having  great  wrath,  knowing  that  he  hath  but  a     1 

short  time.  J 

13  And  when  the  dragon  saw  that  he  was  cast 

down   to   the   earth,   he   persecuted   the   woman   that 

brought  forth  the  man  child.     14  And  there  were  given 

to  the  woman  the  two  wings  of  the  great  eagle,  that 

she  might  fly  into  the  wilderness  unto  her  place,  where 

she  is  nourished  for  a  time,  and  times,  and  half  a  time, 

from  the  face  of  the  serpent.     15  And  the  serpent  cast 

out  of  his  mouth  after  the  woman  water  as  a  river, 

Hi^' Woman  °' ^^^^  ^^  might  cause  her  to  be  carried  away  by  the 

and  Her  Seed  stream.     i6  And  the  earth  helped  the  woman,  and  the 

earth  opened  her  mouth  and  swallowed  up  the  river 

which  the  dragon  cast  out  of  his  mouth.     17  And  the 

dragon  waxed  wroth  with  the  woman,  and  went  away 

to  make  war  with  the  rest  of  her  seed,  that  keep  the 

commandments   of   God,   and   hold   the   testimony   of 

Jesus:  I  and  *he  stood  upon  the  sand  of  the  sea. 

(C)     The  Two  Beasts 

And  I  saw  a  beast  coming  up  out  of  the  sea,  hav- 
ing ten  horns  and  seven  heads,  and  on  his  horns  ten 
diadems,  and  upon  his  heads  names  of  blasphemy.  2 
And  the  beast  which  I  saw  was  like  unto  a  leopard, 
and  his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a  bear,  and  his  mouth 
as  the  mouth  of  a  lion:  and  the  dragon  gave  him  his 
power,  and  his  throne,  and  great  authority.     3  And 

'Gr.  inhabited  earth.         ^or,  Now  is  the  salvation,  and  the  power,  and  the 
kingdom,  become  our  God's,  and   the  authority   is   become   his   Christ's  'Gr. 

tabernacle.         <Some  ancient  authorities  read  /  stood,  &c.  connecting  the  clause 
with   what   follows. 


13 


76     STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


An 

Admonition 
to  Patience 


/  saw  one  of  his  heads  as  though  it  had  been  ^smitten 
unto  death ;  and  his  death-stroke  was  healed :  and  the 
whole  earth  wondered  after  the  beast;  4  and  they 
^worshipped  the  dragon,  because  he  gave  his  authority 
unto  the  beast ;  and  they  ^worshipped  the  beast  saying, 

SeBelstftrom^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^"^^  ^^^  beast?  and  who  is  able  to  war 
the  Sea  with  him  ?  5  and  there  was  given  to  him  a  mouth  speak- 

ing great  things  and  blasphemies ;  and  there  was  given 
to  him  authority  ^to  continue  forty  and  two  months. 
6  And  he  opened  his  mouth  for  blasphemies  against 
God,  to  blaspheme  his  name,  and  his  tabernacle,  even 
them  that  *dwell  in  the  heaven.  7  ^And  it  was  given 
unto  him  to  make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to  over- 
come them :  and  there  was  given  to  him  authority  over 
every  tribe  and  people  and  tongue  and  nation.  8  And 
all  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  ^worship  him,  every 
one  whose  name  hath  not  been  "^written  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  in  the  book  of  life  of  the 
Lamb  that  hath  been  slain. 

(9  If  any  man  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear.  10  ''If 
any  man  ^is  for  captivity,  into  captivity  he  goeth: 
if  any  man  shall  kill  with  the  sword,  with  the  sword 
must  he  be  killed.  Here  is  the  ^patience  and  the  \ 
faith  of  the  saints.  / 

II  And  I  saw  another  beast  coming  up  out  of  the 
earth;  and  he  had  two  horns  like  unto  a  lamb,  and  he 
spake  as  a  dragon.  12  And  he  exerciseth  all  the  au- 
thority of  the  first  beast  in  his  sight.  And  he  maketh 
the  earth  and  them  that  dwell  therein  to  ^worship  the 
first  beast,  whose  death-stroke  was  healed.  13  And 
he  doeth  great  signs,  that  he  should  even  make  fire 
to  come  down  out  of  heaven  upon  the  earth  in  the 
sight  of  men.  14  And  he  deceiveth  them  that  dwell 
on  the  earth  by  reason  of  the  signs  which  it  was  given 
him  to  do  in  the  sight  of  the  beast ;  saying  to  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth,  that  they  should  make  an  image 
to  the  beast  who  hath  the  stroke  of  the  sword  and 
lived.  15  And  it  was  given  unto  him  to  give  breath 
to  it,  even  to  the  image  of  the  beast,  ^"that  the  image 
of  the  beast  should  both  speak,  and  cause  that  as  many 
as  should  not  ^worship  the  image  of  the  beast  should 
be  killed.  16  And  he  causeth  all,  the  small  and  the 
great,  and  the  rich  and  the  poor,  and  the  free  and  the 
bond,  that  there  be  given  them  a  mark  on  their  right 

^Gr.  slain.  ^See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.  9.  'Or,  to  do  his  works 
during  See  Dan.  11.  28.  <Gr.  tabernacle.  ^Some  ancient  authorities  omit 
And  it  was  f/iven ....  overcome  them.  *Or,  written  in  the  book ....  sladn  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world  'The  Greek  text  in  this  verse  is  somewhat  un- 
certain. *Or,  leadeth  into  captivity  'Or,  sted fastness  '"Some  ancient 
authorities  read  that  even  the  image  of  the  beast  should  speak;  and  he  shall 
cause  &c. 


The  Second 
Beast — ^the 
Beast  from 
the  Land 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      77 


An 

Admonition 
to  Wisdom 


14 


The  Lamb 
and  His 
Company 


The  Incom- 
municable 
Chorus 


hand,  or  upon  their  forehead;  17  and  that  no  man 
should  be  able  to  buy  or  to  sell,  save  he  that  hath  the 
mark,  even  the  name  of  the  beast  or  the  number  of 
his  name. 

(18  Here  is  wisdom.  He  that  hath  understand- 
ing, let  him  count  the  number  of  the  beast;  for  it 
is  the  number  of  a  man :  and  his  number  is  ^Six  \ 
hundred  and  sixty  and  six.  / 

(D)     The  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion 

And  I  saw,  and  behold,  the  Lamb  standing  on  the 
mount  Zion,  and  with  him  a  hundred  and  forty  and 
four  thousand,  having  his  name,  and  the  name  of  his 
Father,  written  on  their  foreheads. 

2  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  as  the  voice 
of  many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  a  great  thunder: 
and  the  voice  which  I  heard  was  as  the  voice  of  harp- 
ers harping  with  their  harps:  3  and  they  sing  as  it 
were  a  new  song  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  four 
living  creatures  and  the  elders:  and  no  man  could 
learn  the  song  save  the  hundred  and  forty  and  four 
thousand,  even  they  that  had  been  purchased  out  of  the 
earth. 

4  These  are  they  that  were  not  defiled  with  wom- 
en; for  they  are  virgins.  These  are  they  that  follow 
the  Lamb  withersoever  he  goeth.  These  were  pur- 
chased from  among  men,  to  be  the  firstfruits  unto  God 
and  unto  the  Lamb.  5  And  in  their  mouth  was  found 
no  lie:  they  are  without  blemish. 

6  And  I  saw  another  angel  flying  in  mid  heaven, 
having  ^eternal  good  tidings  to  proclaim  unto  them 
that  ^dwell  on  the  earth,  and  unto  every  nation  and 
tribe  and  tongue  and  people;  7  and  he  saith  with  a 
great  voice.  Fear  God,  and  give  him  glory;  for  the 
hour  of  his  judgment  is  come :  and  ^worship  him  that 
made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  and  sea  and  fountains 
of  waters. 

8  And  another,  a  second  angel,  followed,  saying, 
Fallen,  fallen  is  Babylon  the  great,  that  hath  made  all 
the  nations  to  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her 
fornication. 

9  And  another  angel,  a  third,  followed  them,  say- 
ing with  a  great  voice,  li  any  man  *worshippeth  the 
beast  and  his  image,  and  receiveth  a  mark  on  his  fore- 

The  Message  head,  or  upon  his  hand,  10  he  also  shall  drink  of  the 
the^B©rstand  ^'"^  °^  ^^^  wrath  of  God,  which  is  ^prepared  un- 
His  Fouowers  mixed  in  the  cup  of  his  anger ;  and  he  shall  be  tor- 

'Some  ancient  authorities  read  Six  hundred  and  sixteen.         ^qj.^  an  eternal 
gospel         »Gr.  sit.         ^See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.  9.         "Gr.  mingled. 


The  Purity  of 
the  Redeemed 


The  Message 
of  the  Eternal 
Gospel 


The  Message 
of  Babylon' s 
FaU 


78      STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Test  of 
Patience 


The  Blessed- 
ness of  the 
Holy  Dead 


The  Harvest 
of  the  Elect 


merited  with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the 
holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb:  ii  and 
the  smoke  of  their  torment  goeth  up  ^for  ever  and 
ever;  and  they  have  no  rest  day  and  night,  they  that 
^worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whoso  re- 
ceiveth  the  mark  of  his  name. 

(12  Here  is  the  ^patience  of  the  saints,  they  \ 
that  keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  / 
faith  of  Jesus. 

13  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying,  Write, 
Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  *in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth:  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest 
from  their  labors;  for  their  works  follow  with  them. 

14  And  I  saw,  and  behold,  a  white  cloud ;  and  on 
the  cloud  I  saw  one  sitting  like  unto  a  son  of  man, 
having  on  his  head  a  golden  crown,  and  in  his  hand  a 
sharp  sickle.  15  And  another  angel  came  out  from 
the  ^temple,  crying  with  a  great  voice  to  him  that  sat 
on  the  cloud,  Send  forth  thy  sickle,  and  reap:  for  the 
hour  to  reap  is  come;  for  the  harvest  of  the  earth  is 
''ripe.  16  And  he  that  sat  on  the  cloud  cast  his  sickle 
upon  the  earth ;  and  the  earth  was  reaped. 

17  And  another  angel  came  out  from  the  ^temple 
which  is  in  heaven,  he  also  having  a  sharp  sickle.  18 
And  another  angel  came  out  from  the  altar,  he  that 
hath  power  over  fire;  and  he  called  with  a  great  voice 
to  him  that  had  the  sharp  sickle,  saying,  Send  forth 
thy  sharp  sickle,  and  gather  the  clusters  of  the  vine  of 
the  earth ;  for  her  grapes  are  fully  ripe.  19  And  the 
angel  cast  his  sickle  into  the  earth,  and  gathered  the 
■^vintage  of  the  earth,  and  cast  it  into  the  winepress, 
the  great  winepress,  of  the  wrath  of  God.  20  And 
the  winepress  was  trodden  without  the  city,  and  there 
came  out  blood  from  the  winepress,  even  unto  the 
bridles  of  the  horses,  as  far  as  a  thousand  and  six 
hundred  furlongs. 

5     The  Vision  of  the  Seven  Vials 
(The  World's  Judgment  Executed) 
(A)     The  Preparation  for  the  Vials 

And  I   saw  another  sign  in  heaven,  great  and 

^0  Angels     marvellous,  seven  angels  having  seven  plagues,  which 

are  the  last,  for  in  them  is  finished  the  wrath  of  God. 

2  And  I  saw  as  it  were  a  ^sea  of  glass  mingled 

with  fire;  and  them  that  come  off  victorious  from  the 

^Gr.  unto  ages  of  ages.  =See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.  9.  'Or,  stedfast- 
ness,  «0r,  in  the  Lord.  From  henceforth,  yea  saith  the  Spirit  "Or,  so-wc- 
tuary.         «Gr.   become  dry.         'Gr.   vine.         ^or,   glassy  sea. 


The  Vintage 
of  Wrath 


15 


Plagues 

The  Victors 
by  the  Sea 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.      79 


The  Chorus 
of  Moses  and 
the  Lamb 


The  Temple 
in  Heaven 
Opened 


beast,  and  from  his  image,  and  from  the  number  of 
his  name,  standing  ^by  the  ^sea  of  glass,  having  harps 
of  God. 

3  And  they  sing  the  song  of  Moses  the  ^servant 
of  God,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb,  saying. 
Great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works,  O  Lord  God, 
the  Almighty;  righteous  and  true  are  thy  ways, 
thou  King  of  the  *ages.  4  Who  shall  not  fear,  O 
Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name?  for  thou  only  art  holy; 
for  all  the  nations  shall  come  and  ^worship  before 
thee;  for  thy  righteous  acts  have  been  made  mani- 
fest. 

5  And  after  these  things  I  saw,  and  the  ^temple 
of  the  tabernacle  of  the  testimony  in  heaven  was 
opened:  6  and  there  came  out  from  the  ^temple  the 
seven  angels  that  had  the  seven  plagues,  arrayed  ^with 
precious  stone,  pure  and  bright,  and  girt  about  their 
breasts  with  golden  girdles.  7  And  one  of  the  four 
living  creatures  gave  unto  the  seven  angels  seven 
golden  bowls  full  of  the  wrath  of  God,  who  liveth  ^for 
ever  and  ever.  8  And  the  ^temple  was  filled  with 
smoke  from  the  glory  of  God,  and  from  his  power; 
and  none  was  able  to  enter  into  the  ^temple,  till  the 
seven  plagues  of  the  seven  angels  should  be  finished. 

(B)     The  Vials  Poured  Out 

And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  ^temple. 
The  Command  saying  to  the  seven  angels.  Go  ye,  and  pour  out  the 

to  Pour  Out  -^        °,  ,  r      1  1  r    /--       1     •      ^        ^1  ^1 

seven  bowls  of  the  wrath  of  God  mto  the  earth. 

2  And  the  first  went,  and  poured  out  his  bowl 
into  the  earth ;  and  ^it  became  a  noisome  and  grievous 
sore  upon  the  men  that  had  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and 
that  ^worshipped  his  image. 

3  And  the  second  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the 
sea ;  and  ^it  became  blood  as  of  a  dead  man ;  and  every 
^°living  soul  died,  even  the  things  that  were  in  the  sea. 

4  And  the  third  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the 
rivers  and  the  fountains  of  the  waters;  ^^and  ®it  be- 
came blood.  5  And  I  heard  the  angel  of  the  waters 
saying.  Righteous  art  thou,  who  art  and  who  wast, 
thou  Holy  One,  because  thou  didst  thus  ^^judge:  6  for 
they  poured  out  the  blood  of  saints  and  prophets,  and 
blood  hast  thou  given  them  to  drink :  they  are  worthy. 
7  And  I  heard  the  altar  saying.  Yea,  O  Lord  God,  the 
Almighty,  true  and  righteous  are  thy  judgments. 

*Or,  upon  =0r,  glassy  sea  ^qj.^  bondservant.  ^Many  ancient  authorities 
read  nations.  Jer.  10  7.  ^See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.  9.  *0r,  sanctuary 
'Many  ancient  authorities  read  in  linen,  ch.  19.  8.  *Gr.  unto  the  apes  of  the 
ages.  »0r.  there  came  i^Gr.  soul  of  life.  "Some  ancient  authorities  read 
and  they  became.  ^Or,  judge.  Because  they ...  .prophets,  thou  hast  given 
them  blood  also  to  drink 


16 


the  Vials 


The  First 
Vial 


The  Second 
Vial 


The  Third 
Vial 


80     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Fourtli 
Vial 


The  Fifth 
Vial 


The  Sixth 
Vial 


The  Three 

TTuclean 

Spirits 


The  Warning 
Voice 


The  Gathering 
at  Har- 
Magedon 


The  Seventh 
Vial 


8  And  the  fourth  poured  out  his  bowl  upon  the 
sun ;  and  it  was  given  unto  Mt  to  scorch  men  with  fire. 
9  And  men  were  scorched  with  great  heat:  and  they 
blasphemed  the  name  of  God  who  hath  the  power  over 
these  plagues ;  and  they  repented  not  to  give  him  glory. 

lo  And  the  fifth  poured  out  his  bowl  upon  the 
throne  of  the  beast;  and  his  kingdom  was  darkened; 
and  they  gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain,  ii  and  they 
blasphemed  the  God  of  heaven  because  of  their  pains 
and  their  sores ;  and  they  repented  not  of  their  works. 

12  And  the  sixth  poured  out  his  bowl  upon  the 
great  river,  the  river  Euphrates;  and  the  water 
thereof  was  dried  up,  that  the  way  might  be  made 
ready  for  the  kings  that  come  from  the  sunrising. 

5b     The  Episode  of  the  Frog-like  Spirits 
(An  Intervening  Vision  of  Warning  to  the  Redeemed) 

[13  And  I  saw  coming  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
dragon,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  beast,  and  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet,  three  unclean 
spirits,  as  it  were  frogs:  14  for  they  are  spirits  of 
demons,  working  signs ;  which  go  forth  ^unto  the  kings 
of  the  whole  ^world,  to  gather  them  together  unto  the 
war  of  the  great  day  of  God,  the  Almighty. 

(15   (Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief.     Blessed  is  he 
that  watcheth,  and  keepeth  his  garments,  lest  he  \ 
walk  naked,  and  they  see  his  shame).  / 

16  And  they  gathered  them  together  into  the  "I 
place  which  is  called  in  Hebrew  *Har-Magedon.       J 

17  And  the  seventh  poured  out  his  bowl  upon  the 
air;  and  there  came  forth  a  great  voice  out  of  the 
^temple,  from  the  throne,  saying,  It  is  done:  18  and 
there  were  lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thunders;  and 
there  was  a  great  earthquake,  such  as  was  not  since 
®there  were  men  upon  the  earth,  so  great  an  earth- 
quake, so  mighty.  19  And  the  great  city  was  divided 
into  three  parts,  and  the  cities  of  the  ''nations  fell :  and 
Babylon  the  great  was  remembered  in  the  sight  of 
God,  to  give  unto  her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the 
fierceness  of  his  wrath.  20  And  every  island  fled 
away,  and  the  mountains  were  not  found.  21  And 
great  hail,  every  stone  about  the  weight  of  a  talent, 
cometh  down  out  of  heaven  upon  men :  and  men  blas- 
phemed God  because  of  the  plague  of  the  hail ;  for  the 
plague  thereof  is  exceeding  great. 


'Or,  Mm         =0r,  upon  'Gr.  inhabited  earth.         *0r,  Ar-Magedon.       "Or, 

sanctuary         *Some  ancient  authorities  read  there  was  a  man.         'Or,   Oentiles. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     81 


17 


6     The  Vision  of  Victory 
(The  Church's  Vindication  Manifested) 

(A)     The  Mystical  Babylon  and  Her  Fall 

And  there  came  one  of  the  seven  angels  that  had 
the  seven  bowls,  and  spake  with  me,  saying.  Come 
The  Judgment  hither,  I  will  show  thee  the  judgment  of  the  great  har- 
Hariot^"**  lot  that  sittcth  upon  many  waters;  2  with  whom  the 
kings  of  the  earth  committed  fornication,  and  they  that 
dwell  in  the  earth  were  made  drunken  with  the  wine 
of  her  fornication. 

3  And  he  carried  me  away  in  the  Spirit  into  a 
wilderness :  and  I  saw  a  woman  sitting  upon  a  scarlet- 
colored  beast,  ^full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns.  4  And  the  woman  was 
arrayed  in  purple  and  scarlet,  and  ^decked  with  gold 
and  precious  stone  and  pearls,  having  in  her  hand  a 
Babylon  the  goldcn  cup  full  of  abominations,  ^even  the  unclean 
Harlot  City  things  of  her  fornication,  5  and  upon  her  forehead  a 
name  written,  ^MYSTERY,  BABYLON  THE 
GREAT,  THE  MOTHER  OF  THE  HARLOTS 
AND  OF  THE  ABOMINATIONS  OF  THE 
EARTH.  6  And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with  the 
blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  ^martyrs 
of  Jesus.  And  when  I  saw  her,  I  wondered  with  a 
great  wonder. 

7  And  the  angel  said  unto  me,  Wherefore  didst 

thou  wonder?     I   will   tell   thee   the  mystery  of  the 

woman,  and  of  the  beast  that  carrieth  her,  which  hath 

the  seven  heads  and  the  ten  horns.     8  The  beast  that 

The  Mystery    thou  sawest  was,  and  is  not;  and  is  about  to  come  up 

an?thrB°eTs?  out  of  the  abyss,  «and  to  go  into  perdition.     And  they 

is  Told  that  dwell  on  the  earth  shall  wonder,  they  whose  name 

hath  not  been  written  ^in  the  book  of  life  from  the 

foundation  of  the  world,  when  they  behold  the  beast, 

how  that  he  was,  and  is  not,  and  ^shall  come. 

9  Here  is  the  ^mind  that  hath  wisdom.  The  seven 

heads    are    seven    mountains,    on    which    the    woman 

sitteth:  10  and  ^°they  are  seven  kings;  the  five  are 

fallen,  the  one  is,  the  other  is  not  yet  come;  and  when 

he  Cometh,  he  must  continue  a  little  while.     11  And 

the  beast  that   was,   and   is   not,   is  himself   also   an 

The  Kings       eighth,  and  is  of  the  seven;  and  he  goeth  into  perdi- 

Sin^«ie     tion.     12  And  the  ten  horns  that  thou  sawest  are  ten 

Lamb  kings,   who  have   received  no   kingdom   as  yet;   but 


'Or,  names  full  of  hlasphemy  ^Gr.  gilded.  «Or.  and  of  the  unclean 
things  *Ot.  a  mystery,  Bahylon  the  Great  ^Ot.  witnesses  See  ch.  2.  13. 
•Some    ancient    authorities    read    and    he   goeth.  'Gr.    on.  'Gr.    shall   oe 

present.     =Or,  meaning       ^"Or,  there  are 


82     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

they  receive  authority  as  kings,  with  the  beast,  for  one 
hour.  13  These  have  one  mind,  and  they  give  their 
power  and  authority  unto  the  beast.  14  These  shall 
war  against  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb  shall  overcome 
them,  for  he  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of  kings;  and 
they  also  shall  overcome  that  are  with  him,  called  and 
chosen  and  faithful. 

15  And  he  saith  unto  me,  The  waters  which  thou 
sawest,  where  the  harlot  sitteth,  are  peoples,  and 
multitudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues.  16  And  the  ten 
horns  which  thou  sawest,  and  the  beast,  these  shall 
hate  the  harlot,  and  shall  make  her  desolate  and  naked, 
The  Harlot  and  shall  eat  her  flesh,  and  shall  burn  her  utterly  with 
Made  Desolate  fire.  1 7  For  God  did  put  in  their  hearts  to  do  his 
mind,  and  to  come  to  one  mind,  and  to  give  their  king- 
dom unto  the  beast,  until  the  words  of  God  should  be 
accomplished.  18  And  the  woman  whom  thou  saw- 
est is  the  great  city,  which  ^reigneth  over  the  kings  of 
the  earth. 

1  Q  After  these  things  I  saw  another  angel  coming 

down  out  of  heaven,  having  great  authority;  and  the 
earth  was  lightened  with  his  glory.  2  And  he  cried 
with  a  mighty  voice,  saying.  Fallen,  fallen  is  Babylon 
ttw  GrSt^^city  ^^^  great,  and  is  become  a  habitation  of  demons,  and  a 
Proclaimed  "hold  of  every  unclean  spirit,  and  a  ^hold  of  every  un- 
clean and  hateful  bird.  3  For  ^by  *the  wine  of  the 
wrath  of  her  fornication  all  the  nations  are  fallen ;  and 
the  kings  of  the  earth  committed  fornication  with  her, 
and  the  merchants  of  the  earth  waxed  rich  by  the 
power  of  her  ^wantonness. 

4  And  I  heard  another  voice  from  heaven,  say- 
ing. Come  forth,  my  people,  out  of  her,  that  ye  have 
no  fellowship  with  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of 
her  plagues:  5  for  her  sins  ''have  reached  even  unto 
heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities.  6 
Render  unto  her  even  as  she  rendered,  and  double 
caued^^ut*^*  MM^o  her  the  double  according  to  her  works:  in  the 
of  Her  cup  which  she  mingled,  mingle  unto  her  double.     7 

How  much  soever  she  glorified  herself,  and  waxed 
^wanton,  so  much  give  her  of  torment  and  mourning: 
for  she  saith  in  her  heart,  I  sit  a  queen,  and  am  no 
widow,  and  shall  in  no  wise  see  mourning.  8  There- 
fore in  one  day  shall  her  plagues  come,  death,  and 
mourning,  and  famine ;  and  she  shall  be  utterly  burned 
with  fire;  for  strong  is  ^the  Lord  God  who  judged  her. 

*Gr.  hath  a  kingdom.  ^Or,  prison  'Some  authorities  read  of  the  wine 
....  have  drunk  ^Some  ancient  authorities  omit  the  wine  of.  ^Or,  luxury 
•Or,  clave  together         'Or,  luxurious       'Some  ancient  authorities  omit  the  Lord. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Lament 
of  the  Klnga 
of  the  £artb 
over  Her 
Doom 


The  Lament 
of . the 

Merchants  of 
the  Earth 


9  And  the  kings  of  the  earth,  who  committed 
fornication  and  Hved  ^wantonly  with  her,  shall  weep 
and  wail  over  her,  when  they  look  upon  the  smoke  of 
her  burning,  lo  standing  afar  off  for  the  fear  of  her 
torment,  saying.  Woe,  woe,  the  great  city,  Babylon, 
the  strong  city!  for  in  one  hour  is  thy  judgment 
come. 

II  And  the  merchants  of  the  earth  weep  and 
mourn  over  her,  for  no  man  buyeth  their  -mer- 
chandise any  more;  12  ^merchandise  of  gold,  and 
silver,  and  precious  stone,  and  pearls,  and  fine  linen, 
and  purple,  and  silk,  and  scarlet ;  and  all  thyine  wood, 
and  every  vessel  of  ivory,  and  every  vessel  made  of 
most  precious  wood,  and  of  brass,  and  iron,  and  mar- 
ble; 13  and  cinnamon,  and  ^spice,  and  incense,  and 
ointment,  and  frankincense,  and  wine,  and  oil,  and  fine 
flour,  and  wheat,  and  cattle,  and  sheep;  and  mer- 
chandise of  horses  and  chariots  and  *slaves ;  and 
^souls  of  men.  14  And  the  fruits  which  thy  soul  lusted 
after  are  gone  from  thee,  and  all  things  that  were 
dainty  and  sumptuous  are  perished  from  thee,  and 
men  shall  find  them  no  more  at  all.  15  The  mer- 
chants of  these  things,  who  were  made  rich  by  her, 
shall  stand  afar  off  for  the  fear  of  her  torment,  weep- 
ing and  mourning;  16  saying.  Woe,  woe,  the  great 
city,  she  that  was  arrayed  in  fine  linen  and  purple  and 
scarlet,  and  ^decked  with  gold  and  precious  stone  and 
pearl!  17  for  in  one  hour  so  great  riches  is  made 
desolate. 

And  every  shipmaster,  and  every  one  that  saileth 
any  whither,  and  mariners,  and  as  many  as  ''gain  their 
living  by  sea,  stood  afar  off,  18  and  cried  out  as  they 
looked  upon  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  saying.  What 
city  is  like  the  great  city?  19  And  they  cast  dust  on 
their  heads,  and  cried,  weeping  and  mourning,  saying. 
Woe,  woe,  the  great  city,  wherein  all  that  had  their 
ships  in  the  sea  were  made  rich  by  reason  of  her  cost- 
liness !  for  in  one  hour  is  she  made  desolate. 

20  Rejoice  over  her,  thou  heaven,  and  ye  saints, 
and  ye  apostles,  and  ye  prophets;  for  God  hath  judged 
your  judgment  on  her. 

21  And  ^a  strong  angel  took  up  a  stone  as  it  were 
a  great  millstone  and  cast  it  into  the  sea,  saying.  Thus 
with  a  mighty  fall  shall  Babylon,  the  great  city,  be  cast 
down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more  at  all.  22  And  the 
voice  of  harpers  and  minstrels  and  flute-players  and 
trumpeters  shall  be  heard  no  more  at  all  in  thee;  and 

^Or,    luxuriously         ^Gr.   cargo.         'Gr.    amomum.         ^Gr.    iodies.     Gen.    36. 
6    (Sept.).         ''Or,   lives         «Gr.   gilded.         'Gr.   work   the  sea         »Gr.   one. 


The  Lament 
of  the 
Seamen 
from  Afar 


The  Holy 
Bidden  to 
Bejoice 


84     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The  Ruin 
Complete 


19 


The  Voice 
of  a  Great 
Multitude 


no  craftsman,  ^of  whatsoever  craft,  shall  be  found  any 
more  at  all  in  thee;  and  the  voice  of  a  mill  shall  be 
heard  no  more  at  all  in  thee ;  23  and  the  light  of  a  lamp 
shall  shine  no  more  at  all  in  thee;  and  the  voice  of  the 
bridegroom  and  of  the  bride  shall  be  heard  no  more  at 
all  in  thee :  for  thy  merchants  were  the  princes  of  the 
earth ;  for  with  thy  sorcery  were  all  the  nations  de- 
ceived. 24  And  in  her  was  found  the  blood  of  proph- 
ets and  of  saints,  and  of  all  that  have  been  slain  upon 
the  earth. 

(B)     The  Triumph  of  the  Redeemed 

After  these  things  I  heard  as  it  were  a  great  voice 
of  a  great  multitude  in  heaven,   saying, 
Hallelujah;    Salvation,    and   glory,   and  power,  be- 
long to  our  God :  2  for  true  and  righteous  are  his 
judgments;    for  he   hath   judged   the   great  harlot, 
her  that  corrupted  the  earth  with  her  fornication, 
and  he  hath  avenged  the  blood  of  his  ^servants  at 
her  hand. 
3  And   a   second   time   they    ^say.    Hallelujah.     And 
her  smoke  goeth  up  *for  ever  and  ever.     4  And  the 
four  and  twenty  elders  and  the  four  living  creatures 
fell   down   and   worshipped   God   that   sitteth   on   the 
throne,    saying.    Amen ;    Hallelujah.     5  And    a  voice 
came  forth  from  the  throne,  saying. 
Give  praise  to  our  God,  all  ye  his  ^servants,  ye  that 
fear  him,  the  small  and  the  great. 
6  And    I    heard    as    it    were   the   voice    of    a    great 
multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  as 
the  voice  of  mighty  thunders,  saying. 
Hallelujah:  for  the  Lord  our  God,  the  Almighty, 
reigneth.     7  Let  us  rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad, 
and  let  us  give  the  glory  unto  him :  for  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Lamb  is  come,  and  his  wife  hath  made 
herself  ready. 

8  And  it  was  given  unto  her  that  she  should 
array  herself  in  fine  linen,  bright  and  pure:  for  the 
fine  linen  is  the  righteous  acts  of  the  saints. 

9  And  he  saith  unto  me.  Write,  Blessed  are  they 
that  are  bidden  to  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 
And  he  saith  unto  me.  These  are  true  words  of  God. 

10  And  I  fell  down  before  his  feet  to  ^worship 
him.  And  he  saith  unto  me.  See  thou  do  it  not :  I  am 
a  fellow-servant  with  thee  and  with  thy  brethren  that 
hold  the  testimony  of  Jesus:  ^worship  God:  for  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy. 

'Some  ancient  authorities  omit  of  whatsoever  craft.  ^qj.  hondservants. 
*Gr.  have  said.  <Gr.  unto  the  ages  of  the  ages.  «See  marginal  note  on 
ch.   3.   9. 


The 

Hallelujah 

Chorus 


The  Array  of 
the  Bride 


The  Blessed- 
ness of  the 
Marriage 
Supper 


Worship 
Befused  by 
the  Angel 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


The 

Conqueror 
on  the 
White  Horse 
(The  Begin- 
ning of  the 
End) 


(C)     The  Last  Things 

II  And  I  saw  the  heaven  opened;  and  behold,  a 
white  horse,  and  he  that  sat  thereon  ^called  Faithful 
and  True;  and  in  righteousness  he  doth  judge  and 
make  war.  12  And  his  eyes  are  a  flame  of  fire,  and 
upon  his  head  are  many  diadems ;  and  he  hath  a  name 
written  which  no  one  knoweth  but  he  himself.  13 
And  he  is  arrayed  in  a  garment  ^sprinkled  with  blood : 
and  his  name  is  called  The  Word  of  God.  14  And 
the  armies  which  are  in  heaven  followed  him  upon 
white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and  pure.  15 
And  out  of  his  mouth  proceedeth  a  sharp  sword,  that 
with  it  he  should  smite  the  nations:  and  he  shall  rule 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron:  and  he  treadeth  the  ^wine- 
press of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  God,  the  Al- 
mighty. 16  And  he  hath  on  his  garment  and  on  his 
thigh  a  name  written,  KING  OF  KINGS,  AND 
LORD    OF   LORDS. 

17  And  I  saw  *an  angel  standing  in  the  sun;  and 
he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  birds  that 
fly  in  mid  heaven,  Come  and  be  gathered  together 
unto  the  great  supper  of  God;  18  that  ye  may  eat  the 
flesh  of  kings,  and  the  flesh  of  ^captains,  and  the  flesh 
of  mighty  men,  and  the  flesh  of  horses  and  of  them 
that  sit  thereon,  and  the  flesh  of  all  men,  both  free 
and  bond,  and  small  and  great. 

19  And  I  saw  the  beast,  and  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  and  their  armies,  gathered  together  to  make 
war  against  him  that  sat  upon  the  horse,  and  against 
his  army.  20  And  the  beast  was  taken,  and  with  him 
the  false  prophet  that  wrought  the  signs  in  his  sight. 
The  Beast  and  wherewith  he  deceived  them  that  had  received  the 
prophlr  mark  of  the  beast  and  them  that  Worshipped  his 
image:  they  two  were  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire 
that  burneth  with  brimstone:  21  and  the  rest  were 
killed  with  the  sword  of  him  that  sat  upon  the  horse, 
even  the  sword  which  came  forth  out  of  his  mouth: 
and  all  the  birds  were  filled  with  their  flesh. 

And  I  saw  an  angel  coming  down  out  of  heaven, 
having  the  key  of  the  abyss  and  a  great  chain  ^in  his 
hand.  2  And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  the  old  ser- 
pent, which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan,  and  bound  him 
for  a  thousand  years,  3  and  cast  him  into  the  abyss, 
and  shut  it,  and  sealed  it  over  him,  that  he  should  de- 
ceive the  nations  no  more,  until  the  thousand  years 


The  Call  to 
the  Birds  of 
Mid  Heaven 


Taken 


20 


Satan  Bound 


iSome   ancient   authorities   omit    called.  =Some   ancient   authorities   read 

_.^^ed  in.         'Gr.  vyinepress  of  the  wine  of  the  fierceness.         *Gr.   one.         =0r. 
military  triiunes     Gr.  chiliarchs.      «See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.  9.      'Gr..  upon 


86     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION. 


The  First 
Besurrection 
and  the 
Millennial 
Beign 


should  be  finished :  after  this  he  must  be  loosed  for  a 
little  time. 

4  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them, 
and  judgment  was  given  unto  them:  and  /  saw  the 
souls  of  them  that  had  been  beheaded  for  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  such 
as  ^worshipped  not  the  beast,  neither  his  image,  and 
received  not  the  mark  upon  their  forehead  and  upon 
their  hand;  and  they  lived,  and  reigned  with  Christ 
a  thousand  years.  5  The  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not 
until  the  thousand  years  should  be  finished.  This  is 
the  first  resurrection. 


6  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the 
first  resurrection:  over  these  the  second  death  hath 


Gog  and  Ma 
gog) 


The  Blessed- 
ness of  the 

Period"*^      no  ^power;  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  \ 
Christ,  and  shall  reign  with  him  ^a  thousand  years.  ) 

7  And  when  the  thousand  years  are  finished, 
Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of  his  prison,  8  and  shall 
come  forth  to  deceive  the  nations  which  are  in  the 
four  comers  of  the  earth,  Gog  and  Magog,  to  gather 
them  together  to  the  war:  the  number  of  whom  is  as 
Satan  Loosed  the  sand  of  the  sea.  9  And  they  went  up  over  the 
Overthrown  breadth  of  the  earth,  and  compassed  the  camp  of  the 
(The  Wax  of  saints  about,  and  the  beloved  city :  and  fire  came  down 
^out  of  heaven,  and  devoured  them.  10  And  the  devil 
that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and 
brimstone,  where  are  also  the  beast  and  the  false 
prophet;  and  they  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night 
^for  ever  and  ever. 

II  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him  that 
sat  upon  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven 
fled  away;  and  there  was  found  no  place  for  them.  12 
And  I  saw  the  dead,  the  great  and  the  small,  standing 
before  the  throne;  and  books  were  opened:  and  an- 
other book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life:  and 
the  dead  were  judged  out  of  the  things  which  were 
and'uie  Final  Written  in  the  books,  according  to  their  works.  13 
Judgment  And  the  sea  gave  up  the  dead  that  were  in  it;  and 
death  and  Hades  gave  up  the  dead  that  were  in  them: 
and  they  were  judged  every  man  according  to  their 
works.  14  And  death  and  Hades  were  cast  into  the 
lake  of  fire.  This  is  the  second  death,  even  the  lake 
of  fire.  15  And  if  any  was  not  found  written  in  the 
book  of  life,  he  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 


The  Second 
Besurrection 


'See  marginal  note  on  ch.  3.  9.  -Or,  authority  'Some  ancient  authori- 
ties read  the.  ^Some  ancient  authorities  insert  from  Ood.  'Gr.  unto  the 
ages  of  the  ages. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     87 


21 


The  iNew 
Creation 


7     The  Vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem 

(The  Throne  after  Victory) 

And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth :  for 
the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  are  passed  away; 
and  the  sea  is  no  more. 

2  And  I  saw  ^the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  com- 
The  Holy  City  ing  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  made  ready  as  a 

bride  adorned  for  her  husband. 

3  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  say- 
ing. Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he 
shall  ^dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  peoples, 

A  Great  Voice  ajj(j  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  ^and  be  their 

Out  of  tne  .r--       1  1    1  1       11  •  r  1       • 

Throne  God :  4  and  he  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their 

eyes;  and  death  shall  be  no  more;  neither  shall  there 
be  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain,  any  more :  the 
first  things  are  passed  away. 

5  And  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  said,  Behold, 
I  make  all  things  new.  And  he  saith,  *Write:  for 
these  words  are  faithful  and  true.  6  And  he  said 
unto  me,  They  are  come  to  pass.  I  am  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end.  I  will  give 
unto  him  that  is  athirst  of  the  fountain  of  the  water 
of  life  freely.  7  He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit 
these  things ;  and  I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my 
son.  8  But  for  the  fearful,  and  unbelieving,  and 
abominable,  and  murderers,  and  fornicators,  and 
sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all  liars,  their  part  shall 
be  in  the  lake  that  bumeth  with  fire  and  brimstone; 
which  is  the  second  death. 

9  And  there  came  one  of  the  seven  angels  who 
had  the  seven  bowls,  who  were  laden  with  the  seven 
last  plagues;  and  he  spake  with  me,  saying,  Come 
hither,  I  will  show  thee  the  bride,  the  wife  of  the 
Lamb. 

10  And  he  carried  me  away  in  the  Spirit  to  a 
mountain  great  and  high,  and  showed  me  the  holy  city 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  11 
having  the  glory  of  God:  her  ^light  was  like  unto  a 
stone  most  precious,  as  it  were  a  jasper  stone,  clear  as 
crystal:  12  having  a  wall  great  and  high;  having 
twelve  Agates,  and  at  the  Agates  twelve  angels;  and 
names  written  thereon,  which  are  the  names  of  the 
twelve  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel:  13  on  the  east 
were  three  Agates;  and  on  the  north  three  Agates;  and 


All  Things 
Made  New 


The  City  the 
Bride  of 
Christ 


The  Glory  of 
the  New 
Jerusalem 
from  Afar 


iQr.    the    holy   city    Jerusalem    cominq    doion   new    out    of    heaven  ^Gr. 

tabernacle.         ^ggme  ancient  authorities  omit,  and  be  their  God.         ^Or,  Write, 
These  words  are  faithful  and  true.         "Gr.  luminary.         "Gr.  portals. 


88     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

on  the  south  three  Agates ;  and  on  the  west  three 
Agates.  14  And  the  wall  of  the  city  had  twelve 
foundations,  and  on  them  twelve  names  of  the  twelve 
apostles  of  the  Lamb. 

15  And  he  that  spake  with  me  had  for  a  measure 
a  golden  reed  to  measure  the  city,  and  the  Agates 
thereof,  and  the  wall  thereof.  16  And  the  city  lieth 
foursquare,  and  the  length  thereof  is  as  great  as  the 
The  Measure  breadth :  and  he  measured  the  city  with  the  reed, 
of  the  City  twelve  thousand  furlongs :  the  length  and  the  breadth 
and  the  height  thereof  are  equal.  17  And  he  meas- 
ured the  wall  thereof,  a  hundred  and  forty  and  four 
cubits,  according  to  the  measure  of  a  man,  that  is,  of 
an  angel. 

18  And  the  building  of  the  wall  thereof  was 
jasper:  and  the  city  was  pure  gold,  like  unto  pure 
glass.  19  The  foundations  of  the  wall  of  the  city 
were  adorned  with  all  manner  of  precious  stones.  The 
first  foundation  was  jasper;  the  second,  ^sapphire; 
ofHer^*^'^^*^^  ^^^  third,  chalcedony ;  the  fourth,  emerald ;  20  the 
Building  fifth,  sardonyx ;  the  sixth,  sardius;  the  seventh, 
chrysolite ;  the  eighth,  beryl ;  the  ninth,  topaz ;  the 
tenth,  chrysoprase;  the  eleventh,  ^jacinth;  the 
twelfth,  amethyst.  21  And  the  twelve  Agates  were 
twelve  pearls;  each  one  of  the  several  Agates  was  of 
one  pearl :  and  the  street  of  the  city  was  pure  gold, 
*as  it  were  transparent  glass. 

22  And  I  saw  no  ^temple  therein:  for  the  Lord 

God  the   Almighty,   and   the   Lamb,   are   the  ^temple 

thereof.     23  And   the  city  hath  no  need  of  the    sun, 

neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  upon  it :  for  the  glory  of 

God  did  lighten  it,  ^and  the  lamp  thereof  is  the  Lamb. 

24  And    the    nations    shall    walk    '^amidst    the    light 

a'he Glory       thereof:  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  bring  their  glory 

Within  into  it.     25  And  the  Agates  thereof  shall  in  no  wise  be 

shut  by  day   (for  there  shall  be  no  night  there)  :  26 

and  they  shall  bring  the  glory  and  the  honor  of  the 

nations  into   it :  27  and  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter 

into    it    anything    ^unclean,    or    he    that    ^maketh    an 

abomination  and  a  lie :  but  only  they  that  are  written 

in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life. 

00  And  he   showed   me   a   river  of   water   of   life, 

bright  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God 

The  River  and  and  of  ^"the  Lamb,  2  in  the  midst  of  the  street  thereof. 

Tree  of  Life    /i^^id  on  this  side  of  the  river  and  on  that  was  ^^the 

tree  of  life,  bearing  twelve  '^-manner  of  fruits,  yield- 

>Gr.  portals.  -'Or,  lapis  laxuli  'Or,  ftapphire  ^Or,  transparent  as 
glass  60r.  sanctuarjf  «Or,  and  the  Lamb,  the  lamp  thereof  'Or,  by 
'(Jr.  common  ^Ot,  doeth  i»Or.  the  Laiyib.  In  the  midst  of  the  street 
thereof,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river,  was  the  tree  of  life,  &c.  "Or,  a  tree 
^-Or.  crops  of  fruit 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      89 


The  Beatific 
Vision 


ing  its  fruit  every  month :  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree 
were  for  the  heaUng  of  the  nations. 

3  And  there  shall  be  ^no  curse  any  more :  and  the 
throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall  be  therein :  and 
his  ^servants  shall  serve  him ;  4  and  they  shall  see  his 
face;  and  his  name  shall  be  on  their  foreheads.  5 
And  there  shall  be  night  no  more;  and  they  need  no 
light  of  lamp,  neither  light  of  sun ;  for  the  Lord  God 
shall  give  them  light:  and  they  shall  reign  ^for  ever 
and  ever. 


The  Message 
BeaSirmed 


Worship 
Again 
Refused  by 
the  Angel 


The  Book  Not 
to  Be  Sealed 


Christ's 
Promise  to 
the  Victors 


III     THE    EPILOGUE 

1    The  Final  Words  of  the  Angel  with  the 
Promise  of  Christ 

6  And  he  said  unto  me,  These  words  are  faithful 
and  true :  and  the  Lord,  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  the 
prophets,  sent  his  angel  to  show  unto  his  ^servants  the 
things  which  must  shortly  come  to  pass.  7  And  be- 
hold, I  come  quickly.  Blessed  is  he  that  keepeth  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book. 

8  And  I  John  am  he  that  heard  and  saw  these 
things.  And  when  I  heard  and  saw,  I  fell  down  to 
^worship  before  the  feet  of  the  angel  that  showed  me 
these  things.  9  And  he  saith  unto  me.  See  thou  do  it 
not:  I  am  a  fellow-servant  with  thee  and  with  thy 
brethren  the  prophets,  and  with  them  that  keep  the 
words  of  this  book:  ^worship  God. 

10  And  he  saith  unto  me,  Seal  not  up  the  words 
of  the  prophecy  of  this  book;  for  the  time  is  at  hand. 
II  He  that  is  unrighteous,  let  him  do  unrighteousness 
^still :  and  he  that  is  filthy,  let  him  be  made  filthy  ^still : 
and  he  that  is  righteous,  let  him  do  righteousness  ^still : 
and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  made  holy  ^still. 

12  Behold,  I  come  quickly;  and  my  ^reward  is 
with  me,  to  render  to  each  man  according  as  his  work 
is.  13  I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  first  and 
the  last,  the  beginning  and  the  end.  14  Blessed  are 
they  that  wash  their  robes,  that  they  may  have  ^the 
right  to  come  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in  by 
the  Agates  into  the  city.  15  Without  are  the  dogs,  and 
the  sorcerers,  and  the  fornicators,  and  the  murderers, 
and  the  idolators,  and  every  one  that  loveth  and 
^maketh  a  lie. 


>Or,    no   more   ani/thing   accursed  =Gr.    bondservants.  'Gr.    unto   the 

ages  of  the  ages  '  ^See  marginal   note  on   ch.   .3.  9.         ^Or.   yet  more         «0r, 

wages        'Or. "  the    auhority   over    Comp.    ch.    6.    8.        «Gr.    portals        ^Or,    doeth 
Comp.  ch.  21.  27. 


90     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION. 


i6  I  Jesus  have  sent  mine  angel  to  testify  unto 

Morning  star  jou  these  things  ^for  the  churches.  I  am  the  root  and 

the  offspring  of  David,  the  bright,  the  morning  star. 


2    The  Closing  Testimony  of  John 

17  ^And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come.  And 
he  that  heareth,  let  him  say,  Come.  And  he  that  is 
athirst,  let  him  come:  he  that  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely. 

18  I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book.  If  any  man  shall 
add  ^unto  them,  God  shall  add  ^unto  him  the  plagues 
which  are  written  in  this  book:  19  and  if  any  man 
shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this 
prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his  part  from  the  tree 
of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  *which  are  written  in 
this  book. 

20  He  who  testifieth  these  things  saith.  Yea:  I 
come  quickly.     Amen :  come.  Lord  Jesus. 

3     The  Author's  Benediction 

The  Blessing  21  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus^  be  ®with  the 

on  the  Saints  saints.     Amen. 


A  Universal 
Invitation 


John's 
Witness  and 
Warning 


A  Last 
Promise 
of  Hope  and 
Prayer  of 
Yearning 


'Gr.  over.  -Or,  Both  'Gr.  upon.  *0r,  even  from  the  things  which 
are  written  Bgome  ancient  authorities  add  Christ.  'Two  ancient  authori- 
ties read  with  all. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     91 


ANALYSIS  AND  NOTES 


The  Book  of  Revelation  bears  the  inherent  marks  of 
a  thoroughly  wrought  out  and  carefully  finished  literary 
production,  showing  evident  traces  of  design  and  ar- 
rangement throughout,  which  constitute  a  studied  setting 
for  the  remarkable  series  of  visions  that  contain  its  chief 
message  to  the  church.  Behind  the  outer  form  lies  the 
deep  experience  of  the  author  who  received  a  fresh  rev- 
elation of  divine  truth.  To  him  God  spoke  in  strange  vi- 
sions and  in  a  marvellous  way  about  the  divine  purpose 
concerning  his  people  and  the  great  world  of  men:  for 
couched  though  it  is  in  the  strange  fignires  of  Apocalyp- 
tic, a  method  of  religious  thought  belonging  to  that  time, 
it  yet  bears  to  the  Christian  mind  indisputable  marks  of 
divine  inspiration.  Moved  by  the  visions  which  it  records, 
John  wrote  to  the  churches  in  Asia  a  message  not  only 
for  them  but  for  all  believers  in  all  time ;  for  its  lessons 
lie  not  alone  in  the  events  of  that  age,  but  in  the  wider  and 
permanent  relations  of  the  church  and  the  world  through- 
out the  centuries,  and  they  appeal  to  us  with  new  force  as 
the  varying  conditions  continue  to  change  with  the  revolv- 
ing years.  The  lessons  of  the  book  are  for  us  in  our  day 
no  less  than  they  have  been  for  others  in  the  past,  and  as 
they  will  be  for  still  others  in  the  advancing  future ;  and 
though  these  lessons  are  not  always  easy  to  grasp  or 
lightly  to  be  understood,  they  are  yet  eminently  worthy 
of  our  attentive  study  and  patient  consideration.  The  syn- 
thetic analysis  which  is  here  given,  attempts  to  set  forth 
the  main  thought  of  the  Revelation  as  it  has  been  inter- 
preted by  many  eminent  commentators,  and  it  is  pre- 
sented in  as  concise  a  form  as  is  consistent  with  clearness 
for  the  benefit  of  the  general  reader,  for  the  chief  pur- 
pose of  the  present  work  is  to  make  plain  the  symbolic 
view  as  it  has  taken  form  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  No 
extended  discussion  of  the  more  difficult  portions  of  the 
book  has  been  attempted,  for  a  satisfactory  conclusion 
is  more  often  reached  by  careful  thought  than  by  elabor- 
ate argument,  though  it  has  seemed  best  to  reinforce  the 
view  presented  by  constant  reference  to  well-known 
authorities,  and  also  to  provide  a  brief  comparison  of 
different  opinions  on  the  main  points  of  disagreement 
for  those  who  desire  further  study. 


92     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

The  book  is  found  upon  examination  to  consist  of 
three  principal  parts,  which  are  those  oorrunon  to  every 
finished  composition,  viz: — 

I     The  Prologue,  or  Introduction  . . .  Ch.  1 :1 — 3 :23 ; 
II     The  Main  Apocalypse,  or  Revelation 

Proper Ch.  4 :1 — 22 :5 ;  and 

III     The  Epilogue,  or  Conclusion Ch.  22 :6 — 21. 

This  division  is  one  generally  accepted  by  those  who 
have  studied  the  book,  for  it  is  to  most  minds  both  natu- 
ral and  obvious,  though  some  make  the  Introduction  end 
with  the  first  chapter,  and  include  the  Epistles  to  the 
Churches  in  the  second  part.  As  these,  however,  are  not 
so  markedly  Apocalyptic  in  form  as  the  chapters  that 
follow,  and  do  not  enter  into  the  chief  message  of  the 
book,  but  rather  serve  to  prepare  the  way  for  it,  they  are 
more  properly  regarded  as  part  of  the  Introduction. 

I     The  Prologue  Ch.  1 :1— 3 :22 

The  introductory  and  epistolary  portions  of  the  book 
which  occupy  the  first  three  chapters,  consist  of  four 
parts,  viz.  the  superscription,  the  salutation,  a  vision  of 
the  exalted  Redeemer,  and  messages  to  the  seven  church- 
es in  Asia.  These  give  the  source  and  authority  of  the 
Revelation,  convey  a  greeting  to  the  seven  churches  that 
are  named,  set  forth  the  present  activity  of  Christ  in  his 
redemptive  work  with  the  certainty  of  his  personal  re- 
turn, and  then  present  particular  messages  to  each  of  the 
churches  in  Asia,  which  through  their  general  condition 
aiford  a  perspective  view  of  the  continuous  and  varied 
experience  of  the  whole  church  in  the  process  of  redemp- 
tion. These  preliminary  parts  of  the  book,  also,  serve  to 
introduce  the  great  theme  which  is  to  occupy  the  subse- 
quent revelation,  viz.  Christ  and  the  Church  through 
Time  to  Eternity.  The  style  is  at  once  that  of  Apocalyp- 
tic, though  the  form  is  less  characteristic  in  the  second 
and  third  chapters  than  in  the  first  and  subsequent  ones ; 
the  literary  construction  is  marked  by  obvious  and  sus- 
tained artistic  skill ;  and  the  subject-matter  shows  a  pro- 
found inner  connection  of  thought  with  the  visions  that 
follow,  affording  a  clear  indication  of  the  unity  of  the 
whole  work  that  should  not  be  overlooked  in  our  study  of 
the  book.^ 

iBacon,  Intr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  235  ;   and  New  Cent.  Bib.,   Rev.,  p.   160. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      93 

1  The  Superscription  Ch.  1:1 — 3 

In  the  siiperscription  the  book  is  described,  its  his- 
tory and  contents  are  given  (v.  1 — 2),  and  a  blessing  is 
pronounced  (v.  3)  upon  those  who  read  it,  i.  e.  aloud  be- 
fore the  congregation  (dvaYivcboxcov),  and  those  who 
hear  and  keep  the  things  written  therein,  an  indication 
that  they  were  expected  to  be  understood.  This  blessing  is 
the  first  of  seven  beatitudes  found  in  the  book  (see  App'x 
C),  and  serves  to  show  that  the  office  of  public  reader  in 
the  primitive  church  was  established  in  the  first  century, 
evidently  because  of  a  general  lack  of  education  among 
the  early  converts.  The  book  is  declared  to  be  the  Rev- 
elation or  Apocalypse  of  things  about  to  happen, — not  a 
revelation  which  has  Jesus  Christ  for  its  subject,^  but 
'the  things  which  must  shortly  come  to  pass',  a  phrase 
that  is  best  interpreted  as  a  prophetic  formula  for  the 
uncertain  future  which  is  always  near  with  God  (cf.  Lu. 
18 :8),  and  not  to  be  taken  in  the  stricter  sense  of  limiting 
the  prophecy  to  the  immediate  future,^ — to  have  been 
given  of  God  (v.  1),  and  to  have  been  made  of,  i.  e. 
through  or  by,  Jesus  Christ  as  the  communicating  wit- 
ness,^ to  have  been  sent  by  the  instrument  of  an  angel, 
and  to  have  been  testified  to  by  John,  who  witnessed  con- 
cerning the  word  of  God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ^  which  he  received  through  the  visions  that  are 
herein  recorded.  These  introductory  verses  (v.  1-3)  are 
usually  regarded  as  an  integral  part  of  the  book,  though 
they  are  thought  by  some  to  have  been  added  afterward 
as  an  introduction  and  authorization  by  the  church, 
probably  by  the  elders  at  Ephesus.^ 

2  The  Salutation  Ch.  1:4—8 

The  salutation  is  an  address  and  greeting  of  grace 
and  peace  to  the  seven  churches  in  Asia  from  John,  in  the 

^As  held  by  Selss  and  others,  following  Heinrich,  who  make  the  topic  of  the 
Revelation  Christ  in  his  Second  Advent,  contrary  to  the  generally  accepted  ex- 
egesis. 

^Alford,  Plummer,  Lee,  Milligan,  and  others,  as  against  Diisterdieck,  Stuart, 
and  the  preterists  generally. 

''It  means  the  revelation  which  Jesus  makes,  not  that  which  reveals  him 
....  Revelation  anoKCikvTpiQ  is  a  word  reserved  for  the  Gospel ;  no  Old  Testa- 
ment prophecy  is  called  a  revelation.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  1 ;  also 
cf.  Diisterdieck,   Meyer's   Com.   on   Kev.,   pp.    94-95. 

<'The  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ,  like  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  means 
that  which  he  gave,  not  that  which  tells  about  him.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev., 
p.  2. 

^Simcox,  Camb.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.,  p.  41  :  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  2 ; 
also  cf.  Moulton,  Intr.  to  Litr.  of  Bib.,  p.  312,  who  says,  'A  careful  reading  will 
show  that  these  words  are  to  be  understood,  not  as  a  part  of  the  revelation, 
but  as  the  writer's  (or  editor's)  comment  upon  the  book.'  This  view,  it  will  be 
seen,  does  not  affect  the  sense  of  the  verses,  but  only  their  origin. 


94     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

name  of  each  person  of  the  triune  God,  viz: — (1)  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  who  is  designated  as  'him  who  is  and 
who  was  and  who  is  to  come  V  i-  e.  whose  existence  is  alike 
present,  past,  and  future,  the  Eternal  One,  and  expansion 
of  the  sacred  name  Jehovah,the  I  AM, or  the  I  WILL  BE, 
of  Hebrew  historic  faith  (cf.  Ex.  3 :14,  Am.  R.  V.,  marg.)  ; 
(2)  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is  typified  by  'the 
seven  Spirits  that  are  before  his  throne'  as  being  seven- 
fold in  his  operation,  i.  e.  complete  and  perfect  (cf.  Isa. 
11:2)  f  and  (3)  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  pre- 
sented as  'the  faithful  witness,  the  firstborn  of  the  dead, 
and  the  ruler  of  the  kings  of  the  earth',  whose  redemp- 
tive work  is  declared  in  a  doxology  of  praise  (v.  5b  and  6) 
which  is  rendered  unto  him  as  the  one  'that  loveth  us, 
and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood'/  and 
whose  coming  again  is  notably  heralded — a  pivotal 
thought  throughout  the  book.^  The  descriptive  phrase 
'the  firstborn  of  the  dead'  is  an  evident  recognition  of 
Christ  as  the  first  to  conquer  death  by  resurrection.  The 
closing  part  of  the  salutation  (v,  7-8)  is  exclamatory  and 
parenthetical,  and  forms  a  kind  of  prelude  to  all  that  fol- 
lows, affirming  the  certainty  of  the  second  advent  as  if 
already  present,  and  introducing  at  this  point  the  divine 
witness,  which  is  generally  attributed  to  Christ  who 
speaks  as  God,  affirming  himself  to  be  the  source  and  end 
of  all  things,  the  Eternal  and  All-Ruler,  whose  word 
stands  as  surety  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  visions.  The 
fact  of  God  as  All-Ruler  (navTOXQotTCOQ,  'the  Al- 
mighty'),^ and  the  realization  of  that  fact  in  history,  'con- 
stitutes the  deep  undertone  which  pervades  every  part 
of  the  Apocalypse,  and  rises  here  and  there  into  its  lofti- 

^'Understanding  can  only  know  what  is,  has  been,  or  will  be.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  anything  to  exist  for  understanding  otherwise  than  as  a  matter  of  fact 
it  does  exist  in  those  three  relations  of  time,'  (Kant,  Critique  of  Pure  Reason, 
Watson's  'Selections,'  p.  186  ;  or,  in  a  slightly  different  translation.  Edition  of 
Meiklejohn,  p.  307).  It  is  important  for  us  to  note  that  God  is  thus  presented 
as  comprehending  in  himself  all  the  possibilities  of  existence  in  human  under- 
standing. 

^For  the  view  that  the  origin  of  this  conception  is  to  be  found  in  the  later 
Jewish  literature  rather  than  in  the  Old  Testament,  see  Scott  in  New  Cent.  Bib., 
Rev.,  p.  126.  Swete  interprets,  'Here  the  spirits  are  seven,  because  the  churches 
in  which  they  operate  are  seven.'  Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.  6. 

*R.  V.  'loosed  us  from  our  sins  by  his  blood.'  'The  insertion  or  omission  of 
a  single  letter  (in  the  Greek  word)  makes  the  difference  between  the  A.  V. 
'washed'  and  the  R.  V.  'loosed.'  The  manuscript  evidence  for  each  is  very  evenly 
balanced ;  the  other  evidence  likewise.  On  the  whole,  the  old  reading,  'washed,' 
seems  more  in  harmony  with  the  thought  of  the  book  and  with  Johannine  dic- 
tion in  general.'  Neio  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  127. 

^'The  continuous  return  (the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit)  prefacing,  heralding  the  full  manifestation  of  his  might  and  glory,  is 
the  grand  theme  of  the  Apocalypse.'  Reynolds,  Pulp.  Com.,  John's  Gospel,  Intr., 
p.   Ixxxvi. 

"This  title,  RavTOKpaTup  'the  Almighty,'  is  used  nine  times  in  Revelation,  and 
only  once  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament    (II   Cor.   6.   18). 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.     95 

est  strains'.  Terms  like  this,  never  applied  to  any  but 
God  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  well  understood  as  belong- 
ing only  to  the  Divine  Being,  are  freely  used  of  Christ  in 
the  Revelation,  showing  how  fully  his  divine  nature  was 
realized  in  that  stage  of  the  church's  experience.  The 
connection  of  the  eighth  verse  may  properly  be  con- 
sidered as  the  answering  voice  of  Christ  to  the  cry  of 
John  in  the  seventh,  'Behold  he  cometh'! 

3     The  Introductory  Vision  (The  Glorified  Son  of  Man) 

Ch.  1:9—20 
This  vision  presents  a  transcendent  Christophany, 
unfolding  the  source  of  the  Revelation,  and  introductory 
to  all  that  follows  throughout  the  book;  a  view  of  the 
glorified  Son  of  Man  in  his  exalted  relation  to  the  church 
as  King-Priest,  manifesting  his  dignity  and  authority  in 
bold  and  striking  imagery  through  a  seven-fold  vision. 

(1)     The  Trumpet  Voice  Ch.  1:9—11 

A  great  voice  is  heard,  making  a  special  revelation  to 
John  as  he  partook  with  the  saints  in  the  tribulation  of 
Jesus^  in  the  isle  of  Patmos,  off  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,^ 
where  he  was  banished  for  the  word  of  God  and  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  when  he  was  in  the  Spirit,  i.  e.  in  the  ec- 
static state  peculiar  to  the  prophets,  on  the  Lord's  day;' 
speaking  behind  him,  i.  e.  while  the  speaker  was  yet  un- 
seen, in  a  voice  as  of  a  trumpet,  commanding  him  to  write 
the  things  which  he  saw  in  a  book  (v.  11),  and  to  send  it 
to  the  seven  churches  which  are  then  named,  the  chief 
churches  in  Asia,  to  whom  the  message  of  the  Revelation 
is  addressed  as  the  typical  representatives  of  all  the 
churches  throughout  the  world.  The  human  name  Jesus 
is  here  found  twice  in  one  verse  (v.  9),  and  occurs  in  the 
Revelation  nine  (or  ten)  times,  whereas  it  is  seldom  used 
by  Paul  and  never  by  Peter  in  the  Epistles.  This  seems 
to  point  toward  the  Johannine  authorship,  for  the  name 
that  belonged  to  the  earthly  life  of  our  Lord  was  not 
likely  to  be  used  by  one  who  had  not  known  Jesus  in 
familiar  fellowship.* 

^Tribulation  is  the  pervading  undertone  of  ttie  whole  book.  'The  moving 
spirit  of  the  vision  in  the  Apocalypse  is  the  sufferings  of  the  church'  (Ramsay, 
The  Church  in  the.  Roman  Empire,  p.  295).  'The  ethical  keynote  is  patience' 
{New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  129). 

"See  notes  on  'The  Place'  in  the  Introduction  to  this  volume. 

''The  earliest  use  of  the  name  (the  Lord's  day)  is  in  this  passage,'  Scott, 
New  Cent.  Bib.,   Rev.,  p.   130 ;   Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,   Rev.,   p.   5. 

*See  Scott,  art.  'Rev.,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Chr.  and  Oosp. 


96     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

(2)  The  Triumphant  Son  of  Man  Ch.  1:12— 13a 

The  divine  Savior  at  this  point  appears  in  the  vision 
as  'one  like  unto  a  son  of  man',  i.  e.  human  though  trans- 
figured, standing  in  the  midst  of  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks, or  lampstands,  which  represent  in  symbol  the 
seven  churches  of  Asia  bearing  light  on  the  earth,  and 
in  a  wider  sense  the  whole  church  in  its  completeness 
witnessing  for  the  truth,  for  seven  is  the  number  of  uni- 
versality— a  scene  recalling  the  temple,  and  indicating 
Christ's  triumphant  and  continual  presence  in  the  midst 
of  his  people.^ 

(3)  The  Gracious  Apparel  Ch.  1:13b 
The  Divine  One  is  clothed  with  a  ga-rment  down  to 

the  foot,  the  mark  of  dignity,  and  is  girded  about  with  a 
golden  girdle  at  the  breasts  as  for  reigning  or  priestly 
intercession,  not  about  the  loins  as  for  toil  or  conflict,  in- 
dicating the  nature  of  Christ's  present  and  continuous 
work  on  behalf  of  his  church. 

(4)  The  Glorious  Appearance       Ch.  1:14 — 15,  and  16c 
The  revealed  Son  of  Man  is  majestic  in  form  and 

mien,  and  wondrous  in  appearance,  like  the  Ancient  of 
Days  in  Daniel's  vision  (Dan.  7:9f),  his  head  and  hair 
like  wool  in  purity  and  majesty,  his  eyes  penetrating  and 
enkindlii^g  as  a  flame  of  fire,  his  feet  awe-striking  and  de- 
structive like  molten  brass  glowing  in  a  furnace,  his 
voice  sounding  like  the  roar  of  cataracts,  and  his  coun- 
tenance like  to  the  unclouded  sun — symbols  all  of  these 
of  his  exalted  state,  and  perhaps  intended  to  present  a 
reminiscence  of  the  transfiguration.  The  Greek  word 
XoXxo/.i'6avog  (v.  15),  translated  'burnished  brass'  by 
the  Revisers,  is  of  unknown  origin,  and  occurs  only  here 
and  in  ch.  2 :18.  It  is  thought  to  have  been  a  technical  term 
in  local  use  among  the  metal  workers  of  Ephesus,  and  to 
apply  to  some  alloy  of  copper  or  brass.^  The  literal  in- 
terpretation of  the  word  is  'incense-brass',  which  sug- 
gests a  metal  used  for  making  utensils  in  which  to  burn 
incense,  evidently  precious,  and  having  a  glow  in  the 
furnace,  or  like  a  furnace. 

(5)  The  Seven  Stars  Ch.  1:16a 
The  Glorious  One  has  in  his  right  hand  seven  stars, 

which,  we  are  told  (v.  20),  are  the  angels,  or  heavenly 

I'The  vision  of  the  Divine  Christ  in  Rev.  1  dominates  every  subsequent 
paragraph  in  the  Apocalypse.'  Reynolds,  art.  '(iosp.  of  John,'  Hasting'  Diet,  of 
Bib. 

"Plummrr,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  7  ;  also  see  Thayer's  Gr.  Lex.  of  Neic  Test. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.      97 

representatives  of  the  seven  churches,  i.  e.  Christ  holds 
the  churches  in  his  right  hand,  for  the  stars  and  the  an- 
gels are  declared  to  be  identical.^  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
seven  angels,  which  stand  as  the  ideal  representatives  of 
the  churches  throughout  the  first  part  of  the  Revelation, 
are  here  presented  under  another  symbol,  as  seven  stars 
which  are  upheld  in  the  hand  of  Christ  'like  a  chain  of 
glittering  jewels',  thereby  showing  his  sustaining  care 
of  the  churches.  The  angels  of  the  churches  that  are 
symbolized  by  the  stars,  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  true 
angelic  beings  any  more  than  the  stars  are  real  stars,  but 
are  the  churches  themselves  personified  by  angelic  forms 
after  the  manner  of  the  Apocalyptic.  The  figure  is  not 
properly  applicable  to  the  bishops,  pastors,  or  leaders  of 
the  churches,  though  often  so  interpreted,  for  these  are 
leaders  upon  earth,  whereas  the  angels  like  the  stars  be- 
long in  heaven.^ 

(6)  The  Two-Edged  Sword  Ch.  1:16b 

Out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Conquering  Christ  proceeds 
a  sharp  two-edged  sword,^  the  emblem  of  the  Word  of  God 
in  its  penetrating  power  (cf.  Eph.  6:17b,  and  Heb.  4:12) 
which  is  designed  both  to  reprove  and  punish,  and  which 
serves  to  show  that  the  divine  Christ  speaks  with  su- 
preme authority. 

(7)  The  Assuring  Message  Ch.  1:17-20 

The  Gracious  Savior  reassures  John,  who  fell  at  his 
feet  as  one  who  was  dead,  both  by  his  touch  and  by  his 
words  as  of  old  on  the  holy  mount  (Mat.  17 :7) ;  declaring 
that  he,  the  Son  of  Man,  is  the  first  cause,  and  final  ar- 
biter of  destiny,  the  ever  living  one  though  once  dead; 
affirming  that  he  has  the  keys  of  death  and  of  Hades,^ 
i.  e.  through  his  own  resurrection  has  forever  gained  the 
power  over  death,  holding  the  key  of  its  control,  and  has 
also  the  key  of  Hades,  the  invisible  spirit-world,  which  is 
commonly  associated  with  death  in  the  New  Testament 

I'The  association  of  angels  with  stars  was  a  common  Semitic  idea.'  (Monl- 
ton).  Each  star  was  conceived  of  by  the  Jews  as  having  its  angel,  as  also 
every  force  and  phenomenon  of  nature  had  its  separate  angel.  It  is  not  strange, 
therefore,  that  John  grouped  them  in  his  thought. 

^Milligan,  Internat.  Com.,  vol.  iv,  Rev.,  p.  36;  also  Plumnver,  Pulp.  Com., 
Rev.  p.  8  For  the  other  view  see  Faussett,  J.  F.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  589  ; 
Stuart,  Com.  on  Apoc,  pp.  460-1  ;  and  Trench,  Ep's  to  Seven  Ch's,  p.  75f. 

3'This  last  image  is  not  so  strange  as  it  appears  at  first  sight,  for  the  shor' 
Roman  sword  was  tongue-like  in  shape.'   Hastings'   Diet,   of  Bii.,  art.   'Sword; 

<An  indication  of  divine  power  as  well  as  victory  ;  for  'it  was  part  of  the 
teaching  of  the  Rabbinic  schools  that  the  key  of  death  was  one  of  four  (the 
keys  of  life,  the  grave,  food,  and  rain)  which  were  in  the  hand  of  God  alone.' 
New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  133. 


98     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

as  the  general  habitation  of  the  dead  during  the  inter- 
mediate state  (not  'hell',  as  in  the  Authorized  Version) ; 
and  reaffirming  the  command  to  John  to  write  therefore 
the  things  which  he  saw  in  a  book,  viz.  'the  things  which 
are',  i.  e.  which  now  exist,  looked  at  from  the  divine  point 
of  view  as  beheld  in  the  vision,  and  'the  things  which 
shall  come  to  pass  hereafter',  i.  e.  which  shall  be  made 
manifest  in  history,  those  things  that  belong  to  the  mys- 
tery^ of  the  seven  stars  and  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks, or  to  the  mysterious  and  hidden  future  of  the 
church  of  Christ  in  the  world  which  the  seven  churches 
represent  in  its  ideal  unity. 

The  change  of  symbols  in  this  vision  is  apt  to  be  con- 
fusing unless  we  catch  the  distinctive  meaning  of  each. 
Three  different  symbols  are  here  used  to  represent  the 
churches,  each  presenting  a  different  point  of  view,  viz : — 
(1)  the  angels,  who  represent  the  churches  in  their  in- 
dividual and  organic  life,  engaged  in  active  service  for 
God;  (2)  the  stars,  which  represent  the  churches  in  their 
relation  to  Christ,  receiving  and  reflecting  light  from  him 
and  upheld  by  his  hand;  and  (3)  the  candlesticks,  which 
represent  the  churches  in  their  relation  to  the  world,  bear- 
ing light  to  men  upon  the  earth.  If  these  distinctions  are 
kept  in  mind  the  interpretation  will  be  greatly  simplified. 
At  this  point  it  may  also  be  well  to  note  that  the  view 
which  regards  the  visions  in  the  Revelation  as  purely 
literary  in  origin,  fails  to  satisfy  the  circumstantial  ac- 
count of  John.  On  the  contrary  we  find  it  is  more  in  ac- 
cord with  the  spirit  of  the  record  to  regard  them  not  as 
literary  inventions  in  which  the  message  is  clothed,  but  as 
true  visions  divinely  given  which  were,  nevertheless,  es- 
sentially adapted  to  and  conditioned  by  the  previous  men- 
tal training  and  habits  of  the  writer — the  product  of  an 
ethical  and  not  a  magical  inspiration.  In  fact  the  reality 
of  the  visions  is  in  some  sense  coming  now  to  be  recog- 
nized upon  psychological  grounds  as  the  natural  view.^ 
And  it  should  also  be  seen  that  the  studied  literary  setting 
of  the  visions,  indicating  arrangement  and  design  upon 

^'The  word  mystery  is  not  used  in  the  Bible  in  the  modern  sense  of  'some- 
thing that  cannot  be  fathomed  or  understood,'  but  on  the  contrary  it  indicates 
either  something  which  is  waiting  to  be  revealed  or  that  which  when  explained 
conveys  understanding.  In  the  latter  sense  it  comes  near  to  our  word  'Symbol.' 
And  this  is  the  sense  in  which  it  is  to  be  taken  here  and  in  ch.  xxii.  7.'  {New 
Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  pp.  133-4).  In  the  general  and  broader  sense,  however,  'The 
term  /ivarT/piov  in  the  New  Testament  means  truths  once  hidden  now  revealed, 
made  generally  known,  and  in  their  own  nature  perfectly  intelligible.'  Bruce, 
Exp.   Or.   Test.,  vol.   I,  p.   196. 

'See  art.  'Rev.,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.;  also  'New  Test.  Doctr.  of  Rev.'  in 
the  same  work,  vol.  V.  p.  334e. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     99 

the  part  of  the  seer  in  his  record  of  them,  does  not  mili- 
tate against  the  view  that  the  visions  were  real  and  the 
experience  recorded  an  actual  one.  But,  'even  were  the 
supposition  correct  that  the  seer  had  only  certain  truths 
divinely  impressed  upon  his  mind,  which  his  poetic  fancy 
led  him  to  clothe  in  the  shapes  before  us,  it  would  in  no 
degree  modify  either  the  extent  of  his  inspiration  or  the 
value  of  his  teaching'.^ 

4     The  Seven  Epistles  Ch.  2:1— 3:22 

The  seven  epistles  are  Christ's  messages  of  encour- 
agement and  warning,  of  praise  and  blame,  which  were 
given  to  John  in  vision,  and  which  are  addressed  to  the 
seven  churches  of  proconsular  Asia,^  the  scene  of  John's 
later  ministry,  and  through  them  to  the  church  at  large, 
for  each  epistle  contains  not  only  a  message  to  the  partic- 
ular church,  but  'what  the  Spirit  saith  to  [all]  the 
churches'.  The  form  of  epistles  or  letters  in  an  apoca- 
lypse was  foreign  to  the  Jewish  method  of  writing,  but 
was  doubtless  introduced  by  John  because  the  use  of  such 
letters  or  epistles  had  already  become  established  in  the 
church  as  a  characteristic  expression  of  the  Christian 
mind.^  These  seven  churches  were  not  the  only  ones  then 
existing  in  Asia,^  but  were  evidently  chosen  to  represent 
them  all,  and  were  intended  through  their  individual  ex- 
perience '  to  exemplify  the  experience  of  the  whole  church 
in  the  field  of  history';  not,  however,  in  numerically  suc- 
cessive and  historic  stages,  but  the  general  experience 
of  the  church  universal  throughout  all  time,  for  seven  is 
the  symbol  of  universality,  and  the  seven  churches  are 
here  intended  to  symbolize  the  universal  church.  Each  of 
the  seven  churches  named  occupied  a  strategic  point  of 
special  opportunity  for  gospel  dispersion,  and  they  were 
doubtless  addressed  for  that  reason,  though  the  message 
imparted  was  divinely  intended  for  the  whole  church  in 
all  the  ages.  The  number  seven  occurs  so  often  in  the  Rev- 
elation that  it  necessarily  attracts  our  attention,  and  the 
book  itself  has  not  inaptly  been  styled  'the  Book  of  Sev- 

^Milligan,   Lect.   on  Apoc,  p.   16. 

"AsiiL  in  the  New  Testament  (with  the  possible  exception  of  Acts  2.9)  always 
means  the  Roman  province  of  that  name,  which  embraced  only  the  western  part 
of  what  we  now  call  Asia  Minor,  and  consisted  of  Mysia,  Lydia.  Caria,  and  part 
of  Phrygia,  with  the  islands  of  the  coast, — see  the  map  in  the  beginning  of  this 
volume.  'Asia  was  one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  populous  and  intellectually 
active  of  the   Roman  provinces,'   Ramsay,   art.   Asia.'   Hastings'   Diet,  of  Bih. 

'Ramsay,  Letters  to  Seven  Ch's.,  p.  35. 

^Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  3;  Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  latr.,  p.  \iv, 
and  p.  4. 


100     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION 

ens'.  In  each  case,  too,  as  here,  the  number  has  a  symbolic 
reference,  a  fact  that  should  not  escape  our  observation, 
for  it  points  the  way  to  a  general  principle  of  interpreta- 
tion, viz.  that  every  number  used  throughout  the  hook, 
ivithout  exception,  has  an  acquired  symbolical  meaning,^ 
i.  e.  its  ordinary  arithmetical  value  is  ignored,  or  becomes 
subordinate,  and  it  represents  a  different  idea  that  has  in 
some  way  become  associated  with  it  as  a  number ;  and  this 
important  consideration  often  furnishes  a  key  to  the  cor- 
rect interpretation.  The  origin  of  this  symbolism  is  very 
early,  antedating  history — seven,  for  example,  was  a 
sacred  number  with  the  Accadian  predecessors  of  the 
Semites  in  the  remote  dawn  of  Babylonian  civilization.^ 
This  use  probably  had  its  rise  from  observations  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  such  as  the  phases  of  the  moon  lasting 
seven  days,  the  seven  planets  of  ancient  astronomy,  and 
the  Pleiades,  together  with  the  occurrence  of  seven  as  a 
factor  in  gestation  and  in  other  well  known  i^henomena, 
all  of  which  served  to  impress  upon  the  Eastern  mind  that 
the  number  was  somehow  inwrought  in  the  order  of  na- 
ture and  must  therefore  have  a  special  significance.  In 
a  similar  way  the  number  ten  probably  had  its  origin  as 
a  symbol  in  the  fact  that  it  represented  the  complete  num- 
ber of  digits  on  a  man's  hands,  and  formed  the  norm  of 
mathematical  reckoning.  Other  numbers,  also,  from  some 
real  or  fancied  relation  to  things,  became  ready  symbols 
for  the  Oriental  mind.  In  the  Apocalypse  numbers  are 
often  introduced  first  in  their  ordinary  significance,  as 
the  seven  churches,  and  then  pass  easily  and  naturally  to 
their  symbolic  meaning  which  is  usually  apparent.  But  it 
should  be  seen  that  a  number  does  not  thereby  cease  to 
have  a  quantitative  value  when  it  becomes  symbolical, 
e.  g.  the  seven  churches  represent  a  number  still,  though 
it  is  the  number  of  all  the  churches,  the  whole  church,  and 
not  seven  units  as  before.  It  is  the  definite  numerical 
value  only  that  is  lost  in  the  s\mibolism,  and  not  the  en- 
tire idea  of  number  or  quantity ;  and  the  failure  to  recog- 
nize this  fact  may  lead  us  astray  in  the  interpretation,  as 
for  instance,  in  that  of  the  thousand  years  in  chapter 
twenty,  where  a  great  and  complete  number  of  years 
seems  to  be  meant,  and  not  the  completeness  of  Satan's 

'Mllligan,  Led.  on  Apoc,  p.  38 ;  Stuart,  Com.  on  Apoc,  pp.  101-16.  and 
Excur.  II,  p.  747  in  same  volume ;  also  see  App'x  E  in  this  volume  on  the 
'Symbolism  of  Numbers.' 

'Sayce,  Hibbert  Lect's  on  Origin  and  Oroivth  of  Religion,  p.  82. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.      101 

binding  apart  from  any  period  of  time,  as  held  by  some 
commentators.^ 

Each  epistle  is  addressed  to  the  angel  of  the  indi- 
vidual church  which  is  named,  i.  e.  to  its  heavenly  repre- 
sentative, the  church  personified  in  the  form  of  an  angel 
according  to  the  prevailing  symbolism  of  the  book,  a  po- 
etic form  of  addressing  the  church  itself;  and  the  mes- 
sage is  given  by  authority  of  Christ  himself,^  who  is  de- 
scribed in  veiled  terms  that  are  drawn  mainly  from  the 
imagery  of  the  preceding  vision,  where  the  exalted  Re- 
deemer is  so  vividly  set  forth;  and  the  terms  are  aptly 
chosen  to  suit  the  particular  needs  of  the  church  to  which 
it  is  sent.  It  has  been  suggested,  also,  that  these  epistles 
to  the  churches  contain  numerous  historical  allusions  to 
events  connected  with  the  cities  in  which  the  churches 
were  located,  as  for  example  Sardis,  whose  fortress  had 
been  twice  captured  while  its  people  slept,  is  exhorted  to 
be  watchful.^  The  epistles  are  addressed  first  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  historic  churches  named,  and  then  through 
them  are  addressed  to  the  whole  church  throughout  the 
world,  of  which  the  number  seven  is  representative.  Each 
of  the  epistles  contains  seven  component  parts,  viz: — (1) 
the  address  to  the  individual  church,  i.  e.  to  the  angel  of 
the  church  who  represents  the  church  itself;  (2)  the 
command  of  Christ  to  the  seer  to  write;  (3)  the  title  of 
Christ,  usually  taken  from  the  vision  of  the  glorified  Re- 
deemer in  the  opening  chapter;  (4)  the  praise  or  blame 
for  good  or  ill,  given  to  the  church  for  the  conduct  of 
the  past;  (5)  the  divine  charge  or  warning  against  spe- 
cial forms  of  sin;  (6)  the  promise  of  blessing  to  the  vic- 
tors; and  (7)  the  call  to  each  individual  Christian  to  hear 
and  heed.  The  order  in  which  the  churches  are  addressed 
is  that  of  a  geographical  circuit  beginning  at  Ephesus,  the 
first  city  of  Asia,  and  going  northward,  which  seems  also 
to  have  been  the  order  of  their  importance  from  the  chief 
city  downward.  The  literary  form  of  this  section  may  be 
regarded  as  a  reflection  or  echo  of  the  manner  of  the  open- 

iSo  MlUigan,  Plummer,  and  others — see  notes  in  Ch.  20. 2f. 

2'Probalilv  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  Seven  Letters  is  the  tone  of 
unhesitating  and  unlimited  authority  which  inspires  them  from  beginning  to 
end.'   Ramsay,  Letters  to  Seven  Churches  p.   75. 

'See  Ramsay's  Letters  to  the  Seven  Churches,  where  there  will  be  found 
much  accurate  information  concerning  the  seven  cities  that  is  based  upon  an  ex- 
tended residence  in  those  cities,  and  careful  personal  investigation.  A  more 
concise  account  by  the  same  author  is  given  in  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  in  the 
separate  articles  upon  each  city. 

^See  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  56,  who  names  six  instead  of  seven 
parts   in   the   epistles. 


102      STUDIES  in  tjie  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

ing  part  of  the  rhapsody  of  Amos  where  recurrent  formu- 
lae of  doom  on  seven  nations  are  given  (Amos  ch.  1-2).^ 

(1)  The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Ephesus  Ch.  2:1—7 
The  epistle  to  the  church  in  Ephesus  is  Christ's  mes- 
sage to  a  declining  church,  a  church  which  had  left  its  first 
love: — 'Remember. .  .and  repent'.  In  this  epistle  Christ 
is  'he  that  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  can- 
dlesticks', and  'he  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in  his 
right  hand',  i.  e.  he  who  is  continually  present  among  the 
churches,  and  who  upholds  them  by  his  power.  The  can- 
dlesticks are  objective  representations  of  the  seven 
churches  bearing  light  upon  the  earth,  as  in  the  prophecy 
of  Zechariah  (ch.  4:1 — 10)  a  seven-branched  candlestick 
stands  for  the  Jewish  nation  as  the  representative  of  the 
kingdom  of  God;  while  the  seven  stars,  the  counterpart 
of  the  candlesticks,  represent  the  churches  held  in  the 
hand  of  Christ  shining  in  heaven.  In  this  symbolism  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  stars  represent  the  churches  in  their 
relation  to  Christ,  while  the  candlesticks  are  intended  to 
exhibit  their  relation  to  the  world.  To  move  the  'candle- 
stick out  of  its  place '  is  a  threatening  of  extinction  to  the 
particular  church  unless  it  repent.  Those  'who  call  them- 
selves apostles  and  they  are  not',  were  probably  well 
known  pretenders  of  the  closing  part  of  the  first  century. 
The  Nicolaitans  here  condemned,  were  an  early  obscure 
sect  concerniug  which  little  is  known,  but  who  are  reputed 
to  have  been  libertines  and  seem  to  have  denied  the  ob- 
ligation of  the  moral  law.  The  epistle  is  declared  to  con- 
tain, as  we  find  the  other  epistles  are  also,  'what  the  Spir- 
it saith  to  the  churches',  a  clear  indication  of  a  wider 
message  than  to  the  individual  community  of  the  separate 
church.^  'To  eat  of  the  tree  of  life'  as  the  reward  of  over- 
coming, is  a  reference  to  the  story  of  Eden  (Gen.  3:22), 
and  then  by  anticipation  to  the  joys  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem which  are  the  inheritance  of  the  redeemed  soul  (cf.  ch. 
22:2;  and  Bk.  of  Enoch,  25:4-5).  Paradise,  a  word  rare- 
ly used  in  the  New  Testament  and  probably  of  Persian 
origin,  is  here  employed  to  describe  the  future  abiding 
place  of  the  redeemed.^  The  church  of  Ephesus,  to  which 

iMoulton's  Mod.  Read.  Bii..   Rev.,  p.   196. 

=The  exhortation  to  'hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  churches'  applies  not 
only  to  what  is  contained  in  the  seven  epistles,  but  to  the  entire  Apocalypse 
which   follows.     See   Ramsay's  Letters  to  Seven  Ch's,  p.  38. 

'Paradise  is  the  word  used  in  the  Septuagint  for  Eden.  It  occurs  but 
three  times  in  the  New  Testament.  It  originally  signified  a  park  or  garden 
such  as  was  used  by  Oriental  monarchs  for  a  pleasure-ground,  but  in  Christian 
usage  it  becomes  a  name  for  the  scene  of  rest  and  recompense  for  the  righteous 
after  death.     See  art.  'Paradise'  by  Salmond,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.     103 

this  epistle  is  addressed,  is  the  chief  of  the  seven 
churches  to  whom  John  was  instructed  to  write,  though  it 
has  long  since  ceased  to  exist.  The  city  of  Ephesus,  which 
was  some  sixty  miles  northeast  of  Patmos  and  was  then 
a  large  and  wealthy  metropolis,  has  experienced  more  vi- 
cissitudes in  its  history  than  any  other  city  of  the  Roman 
province  of  Asia.  At  that  time  it  ranked  first  among  all 
the  cities  of  the  province,  and  shortly  after  it  became  the 
capital ;  but  it  subsequently  fell  into  decay,  and  it  is  now 
only  a  squalid  heap  of  ruins. 

(2)     The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Smyrna    Ch.  2:8— 11 

The  eipistle  to  the  church  in  Smyrna  is  Christ's  mes- 
sage to  a  suffering  church,  a  church  w^hich  had  endured 
tribulation,  poverty,  and  the  blasphemy  of  the  Jews: — 
'Fear  not.  .  .Be  thou  faithful'.  Christ  is  here  described 
as  'the  first  and  the  last,  who  was  dead  and  lived  again', 
a  thought  of  special  consolation  for  those  who  were  about 
to  be  cast  into  prison  in  the  coming  persecution,  and  many 
of  whom  would  suffer  death — like  Christ  they  would  live 
again.  There  is,  also,  a  possible  allusion  in  this  to  the 
popular  myth  concerning  the  death  and  resurrection  of 
Dionysius,  the  favorite  deity  of  Smyrna,^  with  which  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  the  notable  facts  of  the 
gospel,  are  placed  in  marked  contrast.  The  recognized 
poverty  of  the  church  in  such  a  rich  city  is  remarkable, 
and  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  may  have  been  partly 
at  least  the  result  of  pillage  by  a  mob;^  though  more 
likely  the  feeling  against  the  gospel  in  the  midst  of 
wealth  like  that  of  Smyrna  w^as  so  strong  as  to  make  its 
message  unacceptable  to  any  but  the  very  poor.  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  church  receives  no  blame  in  this  epistle,  but 
only  counsel  and  encouragement.  The  ten  days  of  tribula- 
tion represent  a  period  that  is  short  but  complete  in  it- 
self, i.  e.  it  has  a  fixed  limit,  for  ten  is  the  number  of  com- 
pleteness. The  crown  of  life  promised  to  the  victors  is  not 
the  royal  diadem  but  the  victor's  crown,  which  is  the  sym- 
bol of  life  eternal,  and  is  the  antithesis  of  the  second 
death,  i.e.  of  the  soul  in  hell  (cf.  ch.  20: 14  ;and  21 :8).  John 
may  have  here  had  in  mind  the  crown  often  laid  upon  the 
head  of  the  dead  body  of  an  earthly  victor  in  his  funeral 
procession — a  crown  of  death  Vv^ith  which  the  crown  of  life 
is  placed  in  apposition.    The  second  death  by  which  'he 

^Plummer.  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev-.,  pp.   50-00. 
=Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  30. 


104    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt',  is  the  death  of  the 
soul — not  ceasing  to  be,  but  dying  to  the  best  in  life — the 
final  condemnation  which  sinners  undergo  at  the  judg- 
ment. Smyrna  is  located  some  forty  miles  north,  and 
somewhat  west,  of  Ephesus,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
wealthy,  important,  and  beautiful  cities  of  Asia  Minor. 
It  has  an  unbroken  record  from  the  dawn  of  history  to  the 
present  day,  and  now  has  a  population  of  some  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand,  and  is  both  rich  and  prosperous. 

(3)     The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Pergamus^ 

Ch.  2:12—17 
The  epistle  to  the  church  in  Pergamus  is  Christ's 
message  to  an  impure  church,  a  church  which  had  some 
that  held  the  teaching  of  Balaam,  and  others  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Nicolaitans: — 'Repent. .  .or  else  I  come  with 
the  sword'.  To  this  church  Christ  is  'he  that  hath  the 
sharp  two-edged  sword',  i.  e.  who  wields  the  instrument 
of  rebuke  and  punishment.  The  location  of  Satan's  throne 
in  Pergamus  denotes  that  the  city  was  under  his  domin- 
ion, and  may  refer  to  the  newly  introduced  worship  of 
the  Emperor  in  which  that  city  was  recognized  as  an  im- 
portant center  ;2  while  the  death  of  Antipas,  an  other- 
wise unknown  martyr,  called  'my  witness,  my  faithful 
one',  and  also  the  presence  of  those  holding  the  teaching 
of  Balaam,^  the  symbolic  name  for  a  doctrine  akin  to 
the  Nicolaitans,  serve  to  show  that  it  was  truly  a  place 
'where  Satan  dwelleth'.  The  aptness  of  the  name  lies  in 
the  similarity  of  Balaam's  method  of  seducing  the  Is- 
raelites by  licentiousness,  and  that  of  the  false  teachers 
who  were  introducing  Antinomianism  (cf.  Num.  25:1-2; 
and  31:16).  The  hidden  manna  represents  the  true 
bread  of  life,  and  is  doubtless  an  allusion  to  the  pot  of 
manna  laid  up  before  the  Lord  in  the  hidden  recesses  of 
the  holy  place  in  the  tabernacle  (Ex.  16:33f.).  There  may 
also  be  a  reference  to  the  Jewish  tradition  that  Jeremiah 

ipergamus,  though  a  rarer  form,  is  preferable  to  Pergamos  (A.  V.),  or 
Pergamum  (R.  V.)  as  the  designation  of  the  city,  owing  to  its  softer  sound  for 
the  English  ear,  though  the  form  is  otherwise  indifferent.  See  Ramsay's  art. 
'Pergamus,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.  'H  Yitpyafio^  is  found  in  Xenophon, 
Pausanius,  and  Dion  Cassius,  but  to  Hepyafiov  in  Strabo,  and  Polyblus,  and 
most  other  writers,  and  in  the  inscriptions  ;  the  termination  is  left  uncertain  in 
Apoc.   i.ll  and  ii.l2.'   Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  33. 

='Pergamum  was  the  first  place  in  Asia  where  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
Augustus  was  erected  a  temple  to  Rome  and  the  Emperor,'   Salmon,  Hist.  Intr.  to 

New   Test.,  p.   239.     'An   allusion  to  the   rampant   paganism   of   Pergamum 

but  chiefly  perhaps  to  the  new  Caesar  worship  in  which  Pergamum  was  pre- 
eminent and  which  above  all  other  pagan  rites  menaced  the  existence  of  the 
Church,'  Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  34. 

''The  name  Balaam  does  not  indicate  a  sect,  but  a  set  of  principles.'  Briggs, 
Mess,  of  Gospels,  p.  451 ;  also  see  New  Cent.  Bib.,   Rev.,  p.   143. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     105 

had  hidden  the  ark  with  its  contents  in  a  cave  of  Sinai  un- 
til the  advent  of  the  Messiah  (7/  Mace.  2:1),  when  it  was 
be  restored.  The  white  stone  is  probabl}^  the  jade,  which 
has  been  held  in  high  esteem  in  the  East  from  the  earliest 
times,^  although  some  think  it  refers  to  the  diamond. 
White  stands  as  the  emblem  of  purity,  but  the  exact  sym- 
bolism of  the  stone  in  this  connection  is  obscure,  though 
clear  enough  to  the  first  readers  of  the  epistle.  The  fig- 
ure may  possibly  have  been  drawn  from  the  Jewish  sa- 
cred use  of  precious  stones,  especially  of  the  mysterious 
Urim  and  Thummim  kept  in  the  pouch  of  the  breastplate 
of  the  highpriest,  which  according  to  JeAvish  tradition 
were  inscribed  with  a  name  known  only  to  the  priest  him- 
self .^  The  gift  would  then  imply  the  conferring  of  high- 
priestly  privileges  on  those  who  overcome.  Some,  how- 
ever, find  in  it  a  reference  to  the  white  pebble  of  acquit- 
tal used  in  courts  of  justice,  or  in  casting  the  lot ;  others 
a  reference  to  the  tessera,  or  ticket,  which  admitted  the 
victor  in  the  Olympic  games  to  the  public  tables,  and  en- 
titled him  to  the  awards  of  his  city;  still  others  a  refer- 
ence to  the  common  use  of  amulets  and  charms  with  a  se- 
cret name  or  pass-word  on  them,  in  that  case  the  white 
stone  conferring  the  real  power  which  the  charm  was  as- 
sumed to  have.^  But  more  probably  the  reference  is  to  a 
stone  engraved  as  a  seal,  with  the  name  of  Christ  upon 
it,  the  gift  of  which  like  the  signet  of  a  king  (Gen.  41:42 
and  Est.  8 :2f.)  is  regarded  as  bestowing  something  of  the 
royal  authority  of  Christ  upon  the  recipient.  Precious 
stones  of  different  shapes  were  commonly  used  for  seals, 
and  were  often  unmounted  and  hung  by  a  cord  about  the 
neck ;  and  the  name  of  the  owner  and  of  the  deity  whom  he 
specially  worshipped  were  engraved  upon  them.^  Every 
man  of  rank  and  wealth  in  the  East  from  time  immemorial 

'This  identification  is  suggested  by  the  present  author  as  a  probable  one, 
for  jade  is  the  most  notable  white  stone  that  was  in  use  in  ancient  times,  and 
it  is  still  highly  prized  for  seals,  charms,  and  kindred  purposes  in  China  and 
the  Par  East.  Dr.  Schlieman  found  implements  made  from  the  coarser  kinds  of 
it  in  the  immediate  region  of  Pergamus  among  the  relics  of  the  oldest  of  the 
cities  in  the  excavations  at  Hissarlik,  the  mound  of  ancient  Ilium,  near  Troas ; 
and  a  jade  celt  engraved  with  Gnostic  formula  in  Greek  characters  is  preserved 
in  the  Christy  collection.     See  art.  'Jade,'  Encyc.  Brit. 

=Trench.  Ep's  to  Seven  Churches,  pp.  178-80.  Trench's  view,  however,  that 
the  Urim  and  Thummim  consisted  of  a  single  stone  is  not  correct,  though  his 
interpretation  of  this  passage  is  as  usual  very  suggestive.  See  art.  'Urim  and 
Thummim'   in   Hastings'   Diet,   of  Bib. 

'See  Trench,  Stuart,  Plummer,  Lee,  Scott,  and  others.  Lange  says  concisely. 
'Two  meanings  attached  to  the  white  stone  among  the  Greeks,  viz.  acquittal  in 
judgment,  and  the  award  of  some  rank  or  dignity.'  Lange's  (Com.  on  Rev.,  p. 
121).  Swete  says  'The  white  stone  is  the  pledge  of  the  divine  favor  which  carries 
with  it  such  intimate  knowledge  of  God  and  Christ  as  only  the  possessor  can 
comprehend.'    (Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  40). 

<See  art.   'Signet,'   Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


106    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

had  his  own  seal ;  and  among  the  Babylonians  so  constant 
and  imperative  were  its  uses  that  it  was  generally  placed 
with  his  body  in  his  coffin.^  In  all  these  interpretations 
the  gift  carries  with  it  special  privilege  or  advantage, 
though  the  chief  virtue  of  the  stone  apparently  lies  in  the 
name  written  upon  it.  The  'new  name'  it  not  probably  a 
new  designation  for  the  believer,  but  the  new  name  of 
Christ  (ch.  3 :12)  which  is  expressive  of  the  new  and  more 
perfect  revelation  of  him  in  heaven  that  only  the  re- 
deemed can  know  (ch.  14:1).  Many,  however,  regard  the 
new  name  as  the  heavenly  name  of  the  individual  Chris- 
tian,^ and  this  would  be  quite  as  appropriate  for  a  seal  as 
the  name  of  Christ.  Pergamus  was  about  a  hundred  miles 
north  of  Ephesus,  and  less  than  fifteen  from  the  sea.  It 
was  at  that  time  the  official  capital  of  the  Province  of 
Asia,  and  the  seat  of  official  authority.  It  ranked  with 
Ephesus  and  Smyrna  as  one  of  the  great  cities  of  procon- 
sular Asia,  and  though  it  is  now  chiefly  '  a  city  of  magnifi- 
cent ruins',  it  still  continues  to  exist  under  the  name  of 
Bergama  at  the  present  day. 

(4)     The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Thyatira 

Ch.  2:18—29 
The  epistle  to  the  church  in  Thyatira  is  Christ's  mes- 
sage to  a  struggling  church,  a  church  which  had  shown 
love  and  faith,  ministry  and  patience : — '  Hold  fast  till  I 
come'.  Christ  is  called  'the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  his  eyes 
like  a  flame  of  fire,  and  his  feet  are  like  unto  burnished 
[or  molten]  brass',  i.  e.  he  who  is  divine,  and  whose  all- 
searching  sight  and  destroying  footstep  will  surely  rec- 
ompense the  evil  (cf.  Dan.  10:6).  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  title  ' Son  of  God'  which  is  here  used  is  not  found 
elsewhere  in  the  book,  though  the  divine  personality  of 
Christ  is  so  evident  throughout.  Jezebel,  the  self-styled 
prophetess  that  the  church  had  tolerated,  but  who  with 
her  children  is  about  to  be  punished  with  death,  is  proba- 
bly the  symbolic  name  of  a  class  or  leader  in  the  church, 

iHilprecht,  8.  8.  Times,  Sept.  10,  1904,  art.  'Babylonian  Life  in  the  Time  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah.' 

^Weizsacker  thinks  the  new  name  is  'the  2.6yoc  of  John's  Gospel'  {Apost. 
Age.,  vol.  II  p.  171)  ;  but  by  'new'  is  more  likely  meant  a  hitherto  unknown 
name.  Stevens  interprets  it  as  'a  symbol  for  the  Messiah,"  (Theol.  of  New 
Test.,  p.  540).  On  the  other  hand  Scott  says,  'A  new  name  stands  for  a  new 
character.'  (New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  143)  ;  and  Ramsay  regards  it  as  'perhaps 
an  allusion  to  the  custom  of  taking  new  and  secret  baptismal  names,'  (art. 
'Pergamus,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.)  ;  also  D'listerdieck  thinks  that  the  name 
applies  to  the  Christian  {Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  148)  ;  and  Swete  holds  the  same 
view  (Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.  40).  'White'  and  'new'  as  Trench  points  out, 
are  'key-words'  in  the  Apocaylpse   (Ep's  to  Seven  Ch's,  p.  172). 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     107 

seducing  it  to  sin.^  The  angel  of  the  church  is  regarded 
as  the  weak  Ahab  who  allows  himself  to  be  the  tool  of 
this  new  Jezebel.^  'The  deep  things  of  Satan'  designate 
the  mysteries  of  the  false  doctrine  here  condemned.^  '  The 
morning  star'  to  be  given  to  those  who  overcome,^  is  such 
a  revelation  of  Christ  himself  (ch.  22:16b)  made  to  the 
redeemed  when  the  night  of  earth  is  over  as  will  usher  in 
the  morning  of  eternal  day — the  beginning  of  the  future 
and  ever  progressive  revelation  of  God.  The  titles  ap- 
plied to  Christ  in  this  epistle,  'Son  of  God',  and  'morning 
star',  have  suggested  a  possible  contrast  in  thought  with 
Apollo,  the  sun-god  worshipped  at  Thyatira,  though  such 
an  allusion  is  quite  uncertain.  The  epistle  to  this  church 
is  the  central  one  of  the  seven,  and  is  the  longest  as  well 
as  in  some  respects  the  most  solemn  of  all  the  epistles. 
Thyatira  lay  about  forty  miles  southeast  from  Perga- 
mus,  and  was  an  important  and  w^ealthy  city  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Lydia,  though  it  never  became  a  leading  city 
of  Asia.  The  modern  name  of  the  town  is  Ak-Hissar,  'the 
white  castle'. 

(5)     The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Sardis        Ch.  3:1—6 

The  epistle  to  the  church  in  Sardis  is  Christ's  mes- 
sage to  a  dying  church,  a  church  which  had  a  name  as  liv- 
ing and  yet  in  a  sense  was  dead: — 'Establish  the  things 
that  remain'.  Christ  is  designated  as  'he  that  hath  the 
seven  Spirits  of  God,  and  the  seven  stars',  i.  e.  he  that 
hath  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  seven  Spirits  represent 
in  his  sevenfold  or  multiple  activity,  and — as  seems  to  be 
implied  by  connecting  the  seven  Spirits  with  the  seven 
stars  or  angels  of  the  churches — imparts  the  Spirit  to 
the  churches,  upon  M'hich  their  life  so  fully  depends.  This 
church  receives  only  rebuke,  but  the  rebuke  given  is  for 

^Ramsay  explains,  'There  had  been  a  Jewish  colony  planted  in  Thyatira, 
and  a  hybrid  sort  of  worship  had  been  developed,  half  Jewish,  half  pagan, 
which  is  called  in  Revelation  the  woman  Jezebel,'  (Paul  the  Trav.  and  Rom. 
at.,  p.  215).  Scott  thinks  it  'most  probable  that  the  reference  is  to  some  well- 
known  and  influential  woman  within  the  church  at  Thyatira,  whose  influence 
on  the  Christian  community  was  parallel  to  that  of  Jezebel  upon  Ahab — a  self- 
styled  prophetess,  whose  teaching  and  example  were  alike  destructive  of  Chris- 
tian morality,'  (New  Cent.  Bib..  Rev.,  p.  147).  Schlirer  also  holds  that  Jezebel 
denoted  a  definite  woman,  (Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  art.  'Thyatira').  Plummer 
finds  in  the  name  a  unity  of  symbolism  with  other  parts  of  the  book,  thus, 
'Jezebel  anticipates  the  harlot  of  ch.  17,  as  Balaam  anticipates  the  false  prophet 
of  ch.   13,'    (Pulp.   Com.,   Rev.,  p.  66). 

-Swete,  Apoc.  of  8t  .John,  p.   42. 

''To  become  acquainted  with  'the  depths."  (i.  e.  the  deep  things  of  divinity, 
as  they  would  say — called  here  'the  deep  things  of  Satan'  in  irony)  was  an 
essential  pretense  of  the  Gnostics.'   Diisterdieck,   Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.   152. 

*'I  will  grant  him  to  see  the  Morning-star".  Moffatt,  New  Trans,  of  New 
Test. 


108    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

lack  of  spiritual  life  rather  than  for  any  special  form  of 
sin.  It  is  declared  to  have  no  works  fufilled  before  God — 
'before  my  God',  a  Johannean  phrase — and  is  exhorted 
to  'remember. .  .and  repent',  for  Christ  'will  come  as  a 
thief '  ;^  bnt  the  'few  names  [or  persons] in  Sardis  that  did 
not  defile  their  garments'  are  promised  that  they  shall 
walk  with  Christ  'in  white'.  The  white  garments  here 
promised  to  the  victors  are  emblems  of  the  perfect  purity 
and  heavenly  state  of  the  glorified  (cf.  Bk  of  Enoch, 
90 :31)  f  while  to  blot  one's  name  out  of  the  book  of  life,^ 
a  fate  from  which  those  who  overcome  are  declared  to  be 
exempt,  is  to  cease  to  have  any  part  in  the  life  eternal — 
a  figure  drawn  from  the  custom  of  striking  out  the  names 
of  the  dead  from  the  list  of  citizens.  Not  only  shall  the 
name  of  him  that  overcometh  be  found  in  the  register  of 
the  living,  but  it  shall  also  be  acknowledged  before  God 
and  the  angels.  The  command  to  'Watch'  was  a  fitting  ex- 
hortation for  a  city  that  was  a  well-nigh  impregnable 
fortress,  and  yet  had  twice  been  seized  by  its  enemies  be- 
cause of  neglect  within  its  walls.^  The  exhortation  to 
'hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  churches',  in  the  last 
four  of  the  epistles,  it  will  be  seen,  follows  instead  of  pre- 
cedes the  promise  to  the  victors.  This  does  not,  however, 
imply  that  a  distinction  is  thereby  intended  between  the 
churches,  dividing  them  into  two  groups,  the  first  consist- 
ing of  three  and  the  second  of  four,  the  former  faithful 
and  the  latter  faithless,  a  view  held  by  some.^  The  differ- 
ence is  conceded  to  be  chiefly  one  of  'tone. .  .which  it  is 
easier  to  feel  than  to  describe',^  and  it  must  be  said  that 
for  most  minds  it  does  not  exist.  The  church  in  Philadel- 
phia, among  the  last  four,  is  a  steadfast  church,  while  the 
church  at  Pergamus,  among  the  first  three,  is  an  impure 
church  in  the  view  of  many  careful  interpreters; 
and  Ephesus  has  evidently  gone  back,  while  Thya- 
tira  has  gone  forward.  The  city  of  Sardis,  to  which 
this  letter  was  addressed,  lay  about  thirty  miles  south- 
east of  Thyatira,  and  was  anciently  one  of  the  most 

I'The  word  used  is  /cPifTrrT^f  a  'thief,'  and  not  'ArjaTr/q  a  'robber,'  showing  that 
secrecy,  not  violence,  is  the  point  of  the  similitude.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com., 
Rev.,  p.   108. 

^''The  word  'white'  (T^evKoq),  excepting  in  Mat.  5.36  and  Jn.  4.35,  is  in  the 
New  Testament  always  used  of  heavenly  purity  and  brightness,'  Plummer,  Pulp. 
Com.,  Rev.,  p.   109. 

'The  'book  of  life'  is  mentioned  seven  times  in  the  Revelation,  an  indication 
of  the  place  it  occupied  in  the  writer's  thought. 

^Ramsay,  Letters  to  Seven  Ch's,  pp.   377-78. 

^Milligan,  Internat.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  48. 

«Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib..   Rev.,  p.   136. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.     109 

famous  cities  of  Asia;  but  even  in  John's  time  it  was 
'a  town  of  the  past.  . .  .decayed  from  its  former  estate 
. . .  and  it  is  now  only  a  ruin,  with  a  tiny  village  called 
Sart,  while  the  town  is  Saliki,  about  five  miles  east'.^ 

(6)     The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Philadelphia 

Ch.  3 :7— 13 
The  epistle  to  the  church  in  Philadelphia  is  Christ's 
message  to  a  steadfast  church,  a  church  which  had  kept 
his  word  and  had  not  denied  his  name: — 'Hold  fast. . . 
that  no  one  take  thy  crown'.  Christ  is  set  forth  as  'he 
that  is  holy,  he  that  is  true',  i.  e.  he  who  possesses  these 
attributes  which  are  recognized  as  divine;  and  'he  that 
hath  the  key  of  David ',  i.  e.  he  w^ho  has  full  control  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  of  which  the  kingdom  of  David  was  the 
enduring  type  (cf.  Isa.  22 :22),  he  who  grants  or  withholds 
according  to  his  will.  These  titles  of  Christ,  it  will  be 
seen,  are  not  taken  from  the  introductory  vision,  like 
most  of  those  in  the  seven  epistles,  but  from  the  Old 
Testament,  probably,  as  has  been  suggested,  because  of 
the  number  of  Jewish  Christians  in  the  Philadelphian 
church.  The  'door  opened'  is  one  of  opportunity 
for  service  aiforded  by  the  position  of  Philadel- 
phia on  the  borders  of  Mysia,  Lydia,  and  Phrygia.^ 
Those  'that  say  they  are  Jews  and  they  are 
not',  are  men  untrue  to  their  Judaism  in  rejecting  the 
promised  Messiah;  for  to  John's  mind  it  was  evident  that 
only  such  Jews  as  believe  in  Jesus  could  belong  to  the  real 
people  of  God.  'The  hour  of  trial'  (Gr.  toil  jifiQaojioii 
— of  the  trial),  'that  hour  which  is  to  come  upon  the  whole 
world',  seems  to  be  here  equivalent  to  'the  great  tribula- 
tion' spoken  of  by  our  Lord  (Matt.  24:21),  and  serves  to 
introduce  that  element  of  shadow  which  ever  hung  in  the 
background  of  Apocalyptic  perspective.  But  the  crisis 
at  hand  is  not  necessarily  the  end;  the  general  tenor  of 
the  Revelation  would  rather  show  that  it  is  only  one  of 
many  crises  that  constantly  progress  toward  the  end.^ 
The  reward  of  overcoming  is  to  be  made  'a  pillar  in  the 
temple  of  God',  i.  e.  in  the  vGog  or  inner  sanctuary  of 

iRamsay,   art.   'Sardis,'   Hastings'   Diet,  of  Bib. 

2Swete,  Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.  53  ;  and  Ramsay,  art.  'Philadelphia,'  Hastings' 
Diet,  of  Bib. 

'Bousset's  inference  is  scarcely  justifiable  : — 'It  is  the  tone  of  immediate 
expectation  of  the  end  ;  the  last  great  struggle  throughout  the  whole  inhabited 
world  is  at  hand ;  the  storm  is  drawing  near ;  already  the  seer  beholds  the 
lightning  flash'.  {New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  pp.  153-4).  Swete  also  interprets  similarly, 
as  referring  to  'the  troublous  times  which  precede  the  Parousia,'  and  adds, 
'This  final  sifting  of  mankind  was  near  at  hand.'    (Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  55). 


110    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

the  heavenly  temple  where  God  dwells,  not  so  much  for 
support  as  for  glory  and  for  beauty,  like  the  pillars  of 
brass  in  Solomon's  temple  (I  K.  7:15f.),  though  perhaps 
with  the  additional  idea  of  permanence  and  streng-th  (cf. 
II  Esdra.  2:15). 

The  pillar  was  not  only  a  prominent  part  of  ancient 
temples,  but  was  often  sculptured  in  human  shape^ — a 
beautiful  conception  of  man's  relation  to  religion.  Also 
the  name  of  God,  of  the  city  of  God,  and  of  the  Son  of 
God,  Christ's  own  new  name  known  only  to  himself,  are  to 
be  written  upon  the  victors  in  token  of  absolute  divine 
ownership — three,  the  sign  of  the  spiritual,  being  perhaps 
also  in  mind  in  the  use  of  three  names.  Philadelphia, 
which  lay  about  twenty-eight  miles  southeast  from  Sar- 
dis,  receives  unmixed  praise,  and  the  city  remains  almost 
unchanged  unto  this  day,  though  it  has  been  transformed 
into  the  Mohammedan  town  of  Ala-Sheker,  'the  reddish 
city',  a  name  derived  from  the  speckled,  red  brown  hills 
around.  It  is  renowned  as  having  had  the  most  glorious 
history  of  all  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  in  the  lorig  struggle 
against  the  Turks  f  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
churches  of  Philadelphia  and  Smyrna,  the  two  which  re- 
ceive no  censure  in  these  epistles,  both  continue  to  exist 
unto  the  present  time. 

(7)     The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Laodicea 

Ch.  3:14—22 
The  epistle  to  the  church  in  Laodicea  is  Christ's  mes- 
sage to  a  self-deceived  church,  a  church  which  had  grown 
lukewarm  and  was  neither  cold  nor  hot: — 'Be  zealous. . . 
and  repent'.  In  this  final  letter  Christ  is  called  'the  Amen 
[cf.  Isa.  65:16,  R.  V.  marg.],  the  faithful  and  true  wit- 
ness',^ as  a  sure  guaranty  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  prom- 
ises; and  he  is  also  declared  to  be  'the  beginning  of  the 
creation  of  God',  i.  e.  not,  indeed,  the  first  whom  God  cre- 
ated, for  Christ  is  not  a  creature,  but  rather  he  is  the 
primal  source  and  causative  agent  in  divine  creation, **  the 
One  who  began  the  creation  of  God,  whether  the  material 
creation  that  waxeth  old  or  the  new  creation  that  endur- 

ipiummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  113  ;  Wordsworth,  quoted  in  Bil).  Com.,  Rev., 
p.   547. 

^'Ramsay,  art.  'Philadelphia,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. ;  and  his  Letters  to 
Seven  Ch's.,  p.  400. 

''The  word  'Amen'  is  here  used  as  a  proper  name  of  our  Lord ;  and  this  is 
the  only  instance  of  such  an  application.  ..  .The  'faithful  and  true  witness'  is 
an   amplification   of  the  Amen'.    Plummer,    Pulp.   Com.,   Rev.,   pp.    114-15. 

■''The  origin  of  God's  creation.'  Moffatt,  New  Translation  of  New  Testa- 
ment. 


STUDIES  in  Wie  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.     Ill 

eth  forever.  The  church  is  openly  rebuked  for  a  tepid 
Christianity  that  is  nauseous  to  Christ,  a  religion  that  is 
'neither  cold  nor  hot'.  Laodicea  was  a  city  of  trade  and 
enterprise,  but  John  regarded  the  church  as  'devoid  of 
initiative'  in  Christian  work.  The  phrase  'thou  sayest  I 
am  rich. .  .and  have  need  of  nothiug',  perhaps  reflects  the 
boast  of  the  city  which,  proud  of  its  wealth,  had  lately  re- 
fused help  from  the  liberality  of  the  Emperor  after  be- 
ing destroyed  by  an  earthquake  (A.  D.  60) ;  and  the  ex- 
hortation 'I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold',  is  perhaps 
a  reference  to  the  heavenly  riches  as  far  surpassing  the 
earthly  which  the  people  of  the  city  possessed.  The  'white 
garments',  the  type  of  a  pure  life,  may  be  here  intended 
to  be  put  in  contrast  with  those  produced  from  the  glossy 
black  wool  of  the  sheep  for  which  the  place  was  noted; 
and  the  'eye-salve'  to  be  contrasted  ^vith  the  noted  eye- 
powder  of  the  neighboring  tem,ple  of  Asklepios,  as  the 
restorer  of  spiritual  vision.^  Laodicea  during  the  Roman 
period  attained  great  prosperity,  and  was  the  meeting 
place  of  the  Council  of  Laodicea  in  A.  D.  361,  but  has  long 
since  been  ruined  and  deserted.  It  lay  some  sixty  miles 
southeast  of  Philadelphia,  and  east  of  Ephesus,  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Lycus,  and  was  the  leading  bishopric  of  Phry- 
gia  throughout  the  Christian  period.^  In  this  closing  epis- 
tle of  the  seven  the  climax  of  promise  is  reached  in  the  as- 
surance that  'he  that  overcometh'  shall  sit  with  Christ 
in  his  Messiah  throne  (v.  21),  i.  e.  shall  share  with  him  in 
the  glory  and  rule  of  the  church  triumphant.  This  prom- 
ise seems  to  take  a  forward  glance  to  the  vision  of  the 
next  two  chapters,  especially  to  the  view  of  the  Lamb  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne.  A  preparation  is  thus  made  for 
the  sudden  transition  from  the  introduction  and  epistles 
to  the  chief  visions  of  the  book,  after  the  closing  words 
of  this  epistle  have  been  written.  'He  that  hath  an  ear, 
let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  churches,'  is  a 
final  voice  of  admonition  and  warning  to  the  church  in 
Laodicea,  to  each  of  the  seven  churches  in  Asia,  and  then 
through  them  to  the  whole  church  throughout  the  M^orld 
in  all  time,  exhorting  them  to  hear  and  obey  the  message 
given  in  each  and  all  of  the  seven  epistles, 

^'Laodicea  was  the  one  famous  medical  centre  in  Phrygia.  .  .  .The  descrip- 
tion of  the  medicine  here  mentioned  is  obscui-ed  by  a  mistranslation.  It  was 
not  an  ointment  but  a  kollyrium,  which  had  the  form  of  small  cylinders  com- 
pounded of  various  Ingredients,  and  was  used  either  by  simple  application  or 
by  reduction  to  a  powder  to  be  smeared  on  the  part.'  Ramsay,  Letters  to  Seven 
Ch's.,  p.  429. 

=See  art.  'Laodicea'  by  Ramsav,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. ;  and  Swete,  Apoc. 
of  St  John,  pp.  61-2. 


112     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION. 

II    THE  MAIN  APOCALYPSE  CH.  4:1—22:5 

The  Revelation  Proper,  which  occupies  the  chief 
portion  of  the  book,  is  a  symbolic  view  of  the  great  spir- 
itual conflict  of  the  ages,  reviewing  the  whole  course  and 
outcome  of  the  far-reaching  struggle  between  the  church 
and  the  world,  with  the  multiple  and  diverse  forces  that 
are  engaged  in  it,  and  setting  forth  the  absolute  decisive- 
ness of  the  final  issue.  It  consists  of  a  series  of  seven  vi- 
sions which  undertake  to  solve  the  apparent  anomalies  of 
God's  present  rule  among  men  by  affording  recurrent 
glimpses  of  the  working  out  of  a  great,  comprehensive, 
underlying  plan, — a  providential  and  moral  order  in  the 
world  that  is  divine  and  sovereign,  interpenetrated  with 
a  concurrent  redemptive  purpose  that  is  gracious  and 
elective, — which  leads  on  through  progressive  stages  of 
trial  and  warfare,  of  threatening  and  judgment,  to  the 
complete  and  final  overthrow  and  punishment  of  all  the 
wicked  and  to  the  full  and  glorious  vindication  and  tri- 
umph of  all  the  holy.  The  seven  visions,  when  carefully 
examined,  will  be  seen  to  be  progressive  in  their  revela- 
tion; for  while  they  do  not  follow  any  line  of  temporal 
succession,  they  yet  show  a  progress  of  thought  and 
movement  throughout.  Beginning  with  the  vision  of  God 
on  the  throne,  a  vision  of  sovereignty,  they  advance  in 
manifest  order  through  the  vision  of  the  seven  seals,  a 
vision  of  trial,  and  the  vision  of  the  seven  trumpets,  a  vi- 
sion of  threatening,  to  the  vision  of  conflict,  a  vision  of 
warfare,  which  is  central  to  all  and  furnishes  a  key  to  the 
general  interpretation  of  the  book.  Then  by  a  scale  of 
descending  climax  they  pass  on  to  the  vision  of  the  seven 
vials,  a  vision  of  judgment,  followed  by  the  vision  of  vic- 
tory, a  vision  of  vindication,  and  this  again  by  the  vision 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  a  vision  of  triumph,  which  reveals 
the  final  goal  of  Christian  hope  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  God.^  The  purpose  of  the  Apocalypse  is  thus  disclosed 
to  be  interpretative  of  God's  plan  of  the  ages,  an  unfold- 
ing of  the  drama  of  destiny,  in  which,  notwithstanding 
all  apparent  contradictions  and  present  reverses,  he  is 
yet  ever  leading  on  to  full  and  final  victory  in  the  end — 
through  all  the  conflict  he  is  winning,  even  against  ap- 
pearances, and  will  triumph  at  last, — a  view  full  of  en- 
couragement for  tried  and  disheartened  Christians  of  the 
first  and  each  succeeding  century.    Why  God  permitted 

^See  App'x  F,  'The  Literary  Structure  of  the  Apocalypse." 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     113 

this  struggle  to  be  begun  and  then  let  it  continue  through- 
out the  centuries,  why  he  ever  allowed  sin  to  find  a  place 
among  his  moral  creatures,  is  a  topic  nowhere  entered 
upon  or  discussed  throughout  the  book.  It  is  evidently 
recognized  as  belonging  to  the  unrevealed  mysteries  of 
God  which  lie  outside  the  sphere  of  the  present  Revela- 
tion. But  that  he  overrules  all  the  apparently  inapt  and 
sinful  conditions  of  this  world  for  the  ultimate  good  of 
his  kingdom,  and  that  he  will  victoriously  triumph  at 
last,  is  the  assuring  witness  of  the  whole  series  of  visions. 
The  Apocalyptic  form,  we  find,  becomes  more  marked 
and  definite  in  this  main  portion  of  the  book,  and  the  diffi- 
culties of  interpretation  are  correspondingly  increased; 
for  they  are  no  longer  chiefly  those  of  grammatical  exege- 
sis and  historical  allusion,  but  rather  the  elucidation  of  a 
body  of  mysterious  symbols.  The  purpose  and  limits  of 
the  present  volume  forbid  the  discussion  of  many  of  the 
exegetical  difficulties,  and  serve  to  confine  attention  main- 
ly to  the  meaning  of  the  symbolism  as  the  chief  subject 
concerning  which  there  is  wide  difference  of  opinion. 
Questions  of  grammatical,  or  grammatico-historical,  ex- 
egesis will  be  found  more  fully  considered  in  the  various 
commentaries  to  which  the  reader  is  referred  in  the  foot- 
notes. The  visions  and  episodes  into  which  the  main 
part  of  the  book  is  properly  divisible,  are  given  separate- 
ly in  the  following  analysis,  i.  e.  the  seven  seals,  trumpets, 
and  vials  are  each  considered  in  order  consecutively,  and 
the  episodes  which  intervene  are  taken  up  after  each 
sevenfold  vision  is  complete,  in  order  that  they  may  be 
better  understood.  This  preserves  the  connection  of  the 
seven  in  the  series,  and  emphasizes  by  itself  the  lesson  of 
the  episodes  which  are  interjected  into  the  natural  order. 

I  The  Vision  of  God  on  the  Thkone  (A  Vision  of 
Sovereignty).  Ch.  4:1 — 5:14 

The  opening  vision  of  the  seven  chief  visions  in  the 
Revelation  is  a  Theophany,  revealing  the  majesty  of  the 
divine  glory  and  the  might  of  the  sovereign  rule  of  God 
as  the  abiding  source  of  the  church's  confidence  in  the 
midst  of  trial  and  distress,  and  as  the  unfailing  ground  of 
faith  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  revelation  that  follows.  This 
vision  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  chapters  is  preparatory  to 
those  that  deal  with  the  present  and  future  prospects  of 
the  church  upon  earth,  and  with  this  in  view  it  sets  forth 


114     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

the  causal  and  higher  relations  upon  which  the  history  of 
the  church  depends,  viz.  God 's  sovereignty  in  creation  and 
in  redemption ;  for  it  is  only  in  relation  to  these  two  great 
abiding  facts  of  the  divine  activity  that  the  passing  events 
of  time  have  their  true  meaning.  We  look  first  upon  the 
stability  of  the  eternal  throne,  and  upon  the  person  of  the 
divine  atoning  Lamb,  and  then  we  are  better  prepared  to 
understand  the  drama  of  history,  and  to  view  with  equa- 
nimity the  dread  scenes  of  crisis  and  conflict  which  be- 
long to  the  lot  of  the  church  upon  earth.  The  scene  de- 
scribed in  the  fourth  and  fifth  chapters,  of  the  eternal 
throne  with  those  who  are  attendant  upon  it,  and  of  the 
Lamb  in  the  midst  of  it,  constitutes  a  proem  to  the  suc- 
ceeding visions,  and  may  be  thought  of  as  continuing 
throughout  and  formiug  the  background  for  all  that  fol- 
lows, in  the  light  of  which  it  must  be  viewed  and  its  mean- 
ing interpreted.  In  the  fifth  chapter  the  action  proper  to 
the  Revelation  begins  with  the  taking  of  the  sealed  book, 
though  some  regard  the  action  as  beginning  with  the  sixth 
chapter  in  the  opening  of  the  seals.  The  present  vision  is 
introduced  with  the  phrase  'after  these  things'  (v.  1), 
which  does  not  indicate  an  interval  of  time  but  rather  a 
succession  of  events,  and  always  marks  a  break  in  the 
connection  and  a  new  phase  of  the  revelation. 

1    The  Throne  and  the  King  Ch.  4 :1 — 3,  5a,  and  6a 

A  door  is  opened  in  heaven  that  the  seer  may  look  in, 
and  the  trumpet  voice  of  ch.  1 :10  is  heard  again,  saying, 
'Come  u,p  hither,  and  I  will  show  thee  the  things  which 
must  come  to  pass  hereafter',  the  further  announcement 
of  a  prophetic  vision,  the  sign  not  only  that  eternal  veri- 
ties are  to  be  revealed,  but  that  earthly  things  are  to  be 
seen  from  the  heavenly  point  of  view.  And  we  are  told 
that  straightway  John  'was  in  the  Spirit',  i.  e.  he  became 
conscious  of  an  additional  inipulse  of  divine  rapture,  for 
he  was  already  in  the  Spirit  (ch.  1:10);  and  then  the 
throne  of  God,  the  seat  of  the  divine  government,  is  seen 
in  the  eternal  splendor  of  repose,  the  reflection  of  the  di- 
vine sovereignty,  surrounded  by  a  rainbow  of  emerald 
green  arching  above  it,  the  emblem  of  God's  covenant 
mercy  (Gen.  9:13),  and  sending  forth  lightnings,  thun- 
ders, and  voices,  the  tokens  of  divine  power,  majesty,  and 
judgment.  The  divine  Person  is  presented  as  enthroned, 
but  is  not  named,  and  is  described  only  by  comparison, 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     115 

a  touch  of  reverent  reserve  as  consonant  with  religion  as 
it  is  true  to  art.  His  appearance  is  glorious  like  jasper 
and  sardius,  the  last  and  first  of  the  precious  stones  on  the 
breastplate  of  the  highpriest,  and  part  of  the  foundation 
stones  of  the  heavenly  city.^  The  pure  jasper  and  the 
red  sardius  are  the  apparent  symbols  of  purity  and  jus- 
tice ( cf .  Ezek.  1 :26,  and  10 :1 ;  Dan.  7 :9 ;  Bk  of  Enoch 
14:18f.).  Before  the  throne,  we  are  told,  there  is  'as  it 
were,  a  sea  of  glass^  like  unto  crystal',  the  symbol  of  the 
calm  and  fulness  of  life  in  God's  completed  kingdom  in 
contrast  with  the  stormy  sea  of  earthly  nations,  the  calm 
of  the  heavenly  life  in  antithesis  with  the  turmoil  of  the 
earthly.  This  seems  to  be  the  more  natural  interpretation 
of  the  passage,  yet  the  symbolism  of  the  sea  in  the  Reve- 
lation has  been  interpreted  with  a  good  deal  of  freedom, 
and  there  is  wide  difference  of  opinion  concerning  its 
meaning.  It  is  regarded  by  many  as  the  symbol  of 
purification  the  antitype  of  the  laver  before  the  taber- 
nacle, while  others  find  in  it  a  type  of  the  eternal  ful- 
ness of  joy  in  the  presence  of  God.  Some  think  the  sea 
is  placed  before  the  throne  as  a  symbol  of  the  former 
trial  and  conflict  of  the  earthly  life  through  which  the 
saints  have  passed  to  reach  the  presence  of  God, 
and  that  it  has  now  become  a  perpetual  memorial 
of  victory,  for  the  sea  is  glassy  and  quiet  as 
the  sign  that  the  conflict  is  over.^  Other  late  writ- 
ers connect  the  sea  with  early  Hebrew  ideas  of  the  waters 
before  the  firmament  (Gen.  1 :7),  traces  of  which  continue 
to  appear  in  Apocalyptic  literature,  and  hold  that  this 
conception  underlies  the  symbolism  of  the  molten  sea  in 
Solomon's  temple  and  forms  the  basis  of  the  present  de- 
scription.^ With  figures  so  flexible  as  these  it  is  quite 
possible  that  different  thoughts  have  been  included,  for 
the  sea  was  closely  interwoven  with  the  early  stage  of 
Israel's  history,  and  may  have  become  a  symbol  covering 
a  wide  range  of  correlative  ideas.  But  however  w^e  may 
interpret  the  meaning  of  the  symbolism,  the  presence  of 
the  sea  in  the  vision  undoubtedly  serves  to  enhance  the 

>See  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  art.  'Stones,  Precious  ;'  also  the  separate  arts. 
in  the  same  work  on  the  names  of  precious  stones  which  we  find  in  the  Revelation. 
Plummer  regards  the  jasper,  which  is  further  described  in  ch.  21.11  as  being 
'clear  as  crystal,'  to  be  the  modern  diamond,  while  Cheyne  thinks  it  the  opal, 
and   Scott  identifies  the  sardius  with  our  carnelian. 

^The  A.  V.  reads,  'there  was  a  sea  of  glass'  ;  the  R.  V.  renders,  'as  it  were 
a  glassy  sea' ;  and  the  Am.  R.  V.  gives,  'as  it  were  a  sea  of  glass.'  The  Revisers 
evidently  regarded  the  phrase  as  a  figurative  way  of  describing  the  quiet  of  the 
sea.     Alford,  however,  and  Swete  interpret  literally  as  'a  sea  of  glass.' 

»Cf.  Faussett,  J.  F.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  625. 

<See  ISlew  Cent.  Bib.,   Rev.,   p.   164. 


116    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION 

majesty  and  splendor  of  the  scene,  and  may  have  been  in- 
troduced partly  for  that  purpose,  though  the  sea  un- 
doubtedly had  a  permanent  place  in  Hebrew  thought, 

2     The  Four  and  Twenty  Elders  Ch.  4 :4,  10  and  11 

The  vision  presents  the  worship  of  heaven  in  the 
forms  of  earth  for  our  apprehension.  The  elders  (Gr. 
'presbyters')  are  the  ideal  representatives  of  the  re- 
deemed church,^  who  are  clothed  in  white  raiment  and 
placed  round  about  the  throne  wearing  golden  crowns 
and  sitting  on  lesser  thrones  reigning  with  Christ,  the  fit- 
ting tokens  of  royal  dignity  and  authority,  and  of  their 
triumphant  victory  through  him  who  is  their  Saviour. 
They  are  ever  active  in  service,  casting  their  cro\\ms  be- 
fore the  throne  and  him  that  sitteth  thereon  as  they  wor- 
ship, and  joining  in  every  chorus  of  adoration.^  Their 
number  is  that  of  the  twelve  patriarchs  and  apostles  com- 
bined, indicating  that  they  represent  the  church  of  both 
dispensations,  the  saints  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
They  are  not,  however,  the  twelve  patriarchs  and  apos- 
tles themselves  enthroned,  as  suggested  by  some,  but 
ideal  beings  who  have  a  representative  character.  Their 
number,  twice  twelve,  i.  e.  twice  the  national  number  of 
Israel,  aptly  symbolizes  the  glorified  church  of  all  the 
ages.^  Some  find  in  these  elders  a  group  of  angelic  beings 
who  are  attendants  of  the  divine  glory  and  whose  pres- 
ence in  the  heavenly  temple  was  a  part  of  ancient  Jewish 
tradition,  as  in  the  Judgment  of  Peter,  where  it  is  said, 
'For  there  are  four  and  twenty  elders,  twelve  upon  the 
right  hand  and  twelve  upon  the  left.  '^  There  is  no  reason 
to  infer,  however,  that  the  Greek  term  'presbyters',  or 
'elders',  with  its  definite  meaning  in  the  New  Testament 
church,  is  otherwise  used  in  the  Apocalypse,  even  though 
the  elders  are  here  the  representatives  of  a  class.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  the  earlier  use  of  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  in  Apocalyptic  literature  may  have  been 
the  occasion  of  their  introduction  here,  but  there  was 
nothing  in  the  usage  of  the  past  to  prevent  its  modified 
application  in  a  Christian  sense  so  natural  as  this  in  the 
first  century ;  on  the  contrary  it  is  quite  in  accord  with  the 

'Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  145 ;  Swete,  Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.  68. 

^'Throughout  the  vision  no  past  tense  is  used.  The  vision  represents  the 
worship  of  heaven  (so  far  as  it  can  be  presented  to  human  understanding)  as 
it  continues  eternally.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   145. 

'Bleek,  Lect.  on  Apoc,  p.   199  ;  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   145. 

^Neto  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  163 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     117 

gradually  progressive  method  of  Apocalyptic  thought 
that  they  should  be  introduced  here  to  represent  the 
church  enlarged  by  New  Testament  accessions.  It  is  cer- 
tainly quite  beside  the  mark  to  affirm  that  this  idea  of  the 
church  as  a  combination  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
saints  is  'medieval';^  when  it  is  found  so  clearly  in  the 
Epistles  of  Paul. 

3  The  Seven  Lamps  of  Fire  (or  Torches)  Ch.  4:5b 

These  lamps  are  seen  burning  before  the  throne 
which  they  serve  to  illumine,  recalling  the  seven-branched 
candlestick  in  the  tabernacle,  and  they  are  seven  in  num- 
ber, doubtless,  to  indicate  their  fulness  or  completeness. 
We  are  told  that  the  lamps  'are  [i.  e.  are  the  symbol  of] 
the  seven  Spirits  of  God';  they  are,  therefore,  evi- 
dently designed  to  represent  the  Holy  Spirit  through- 
out the  Revelation,  the  seven  Spirits  that  are  before  the 
throne  (ch.  1:4)  and  that  serve  to  denote  the  fulness  of 
the  Spirit's  operation,  his  manifold  energy  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  unity  of  his  person.  The  fitness  of  fire, 
or  a  flaming  torch,  to  symbolize  the  illuminative  influence 
of  the  Spirit  is  quite  evident,  throwing  light  upon  the 
throne  and  revealing  God  to  men,  but  the  use  of  seven 
torches,  like  that  of  seven  Spirits,  is  peculiar  to  the  Rev- 
elation, and  is  introduced,  one  is  constrained  to  think,  for 
a  special  purpose.  That  the  Holy  Spirit  is  indicated  by 
this  symbol  throughout  is  shown  by  the  context  (cf.  chs. 
1 :4  and  3 :1),  but  it  is  evidently  used  here  to  set  forth  the 
Spirit  from  a  particular  point  of  view,  i.  e.  to  represent 
in  a  concrete  form  the  divine  perfection  of  the  Spirit  as 
displayed  in  his  multiple  activities.  It  seems  to  be  an 
echo  from  the  vision  of  Zechariah  (ch.  3:9,  and  4:10) 
where  the  divine  pervasive  insight  is  represented  by  the 
'seven  eyes  of  the  Lord',  (cf.  also  Rev.  5:6,  'the  seven 
eyes  of  the  Lamb'). 

4  The  Four  Living  Creatures  Ch.  4.  6b — 9 

The  four  living  creatures  (cf.  Ezek.  l:5f.), — which 
are  not  to  be  thought  of  as  'beasts'  even  in  a  good  sense, 
as  in  the  Authorized  Version,  but  rather  as  in  the  Greek, 
'the  living  ones',  which  gives  a  better  idea, — are  seen  'in 
the  midst  of  the  throne  and  round  about  the  throne', 
evidently  indicating  their  function  in  the  heavenly  court, 
to  wait  upon  the  divine  Person,  though  their  exact  ar- 

^New  Cent.  Bib.,   Rev.,   p.   163. 


118    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

rangement  in  the  vision  is  not  so  clear.^  These  are  com- 
posite creature-forms  that  are  manifestly  to  be  identified 
with  the  cherubim  of  the  Old  Testament.  Each  creature 
consists  of  four  representative  forms  of  animal  life  com- 
bined in  one,  viz.  that  of  the  lion,  the  ox,  the  eagle,  and 
man,  together  producing  a  strange,  anomalous  figure" 
which  is  generally  thought  to  personify  wild  animals, 
domestic  animals,  birds,  and  man,  as  possessing  a  com- 
mon physical  life,  or  created  life  in  its  entirety  repre- 
sented by  its  higher  and  more  notable  forms.  In  the  Rev- 
elation each  has  a  different  face,  according  to  the  animal 
form  which  is  made  prominent,  and  not  four  faces  as  in 
Ezekiel  (Ezek.  1:5 — 14),  the  individual  life  being  thereby 
made  more  manifest.  These  living  ones  are  ideal  symbols 
of  the  physical  creation,  especially  of  all  created  life,  and 
represent  in  the  vision  the  entire  earthly  creation  as 
sharing  in  the  benefits  of  redemption,^  manifesting  the  di- 
vine glory,  and  waiting  upon  God,  They  are  used  in  the 
Old  Testament  as  impressive  symbols  of  the  divine  pres- 
ence, and  Jehovah  is  knouTi  as  'he  that  dwelleth  be- 
tween the  cherubim',  (Am.  R.  V.  'sitteth  above' — marg. 
'is  enthroned',  i.  e.  upon  the  cherubim),^  a  reflection  of 
the  thought  embodied  in  the  arrangement  of  the  ark  of 
the  covenant,  where  the  mercy  seat  with  the  shekinah 
flame  was  placed  between  the  cherubim.  In  John's  vision 
the  living  creatures  are  seen  in  closest  proximity  to  the 
throne,  and  they  lead  the  heavenly  choir  in  an  unceasing 
song  of  praise  (the  Creation  Chorus,  v.  8 — 11),  the  clos- 
ing verse  of  the  song  indicating  their  function  in  the 
heavenly  court  to  glorify  God,  as  also  the  part  they  sub- 
sequently have  in  the  song  of  the  redeemed  (the  Redemp- 
tion Chorus,  ch.  5 :13)  reflects  the  nature  of  their  worship. 
They  are  full  of  eyes,  the  sign  of  their  all-seein,g  watch- 
fulness; they  have  three  pairs  of  wings,  the  symbol  of 
their  spiritual  ministry,  for  three  is  the  sign  of  the  spir- 
itual as  the  wings  are  of  activity;  and  they  are  four  in 
number  while  each  is  fourfold  to  indicate  their  relation  to 
the  organic  world,  for  four  is  always  the  earth  number. 
Also,  they  rest  not  day  and  night,  showing  the  character- 
istic of  life  in  its  fullest  energy  and  ceaseless  activity, 

^For  Bleek's  view  of  the  arrangement  see  notes  on  'The  Lamb  in  the  Midst 
of  the  Throne,'  under  ch.  5.  6-8a. 

2'No  one  can  authoritatively  affirm  that  created  beings  of  a  lower  order  than 
man  will  not  in  some  sense  share  in  the  future  life/  A.  A.  Hodge,  unpublished 
Classroom  Lectures. 

sSee  in  Am.  R.  V.,  I  Sam.  4.4;  II  Sam.  6.2;  II  Ki.  1.9-15;  I  Chr.  13.6; 
Ps.  80.1,  99.1  ;  Isa.  37.16  ;  Ezek.  10.1-20. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     119 

saying  'Holy,  holy,  holy,'  i.  e.  'holy'  thrice  repeated, — 
three  a  symbol  of  the  divine, — corresponding  to  the  Tri- 
sagion  of  Isaiah's  prophecy  (ch.  6:3),  declaring  the  holi- 
ness of  God,  the  All-Ruler,  as  es,pecially  revealed  in  cre- 
ation, all  created  beings  ministering  to  the  manifestation 
of  the  divine  glory.  The  identity  of  the  living  creatures 
with  the  cherubim  of  the  Old  Testament  is  generally 
recognized,  but  the  origin  of  the  idea  of  the  cherubim 
in  connection  with  the  worship  of  Jehovah  is  as  obscure 
as  the  actual  form  is  indefinite,  though  probably  derived 
from  a  primitive  sta,ge  of  religious  thought  among  the 
Semitic  people,  and  early  incorporated  as  a  symbol  in  the 
religion  of  Israel.  Apparently  the  form  and  conception 
varied  somewhat  through  time,  as  will  be  seen  by  com- 
paring Ezekiel's  description  with  that  which  is  given 
here,  though  the  general  idea  remained  the  same.  Some 
think  the  cherubim  to  have  been  originally  the  storm- 
clouds  personified,  regarded  as  supporting  the  divine 
throne  and  surrounding  the  divine  Person,  while  the  sera- 
phim represented  the  lightning-flash  revealing  God  to 
men.  Others  regard  them  as  unidentified  nature-forces 
idealized  in  forms  of  life,  and  traditionally  associated 
with  the  throne  of  God.  But  whatever  their  origin,  their 
meaning  in  Scripture  is  plain,  viz.  the  physical  creation 
waiting  upon  God.^ 

5     The  Sealed  Book  (or  Scroll)  Ch.  5:1—5 

A  new  phase  of  the  vision  now  begins  with  chapter 
five,  indicated  by  the  words  'And  I  saw',  setting  forth 
the  glory  and  honor  of  the  exalted  Redeemer,  and  indicat- 
ing the  divine  purpose  through  him  to  throw  light  upon 
the  plan  of  God  for  the  ages.  A  sealed  book  or  scroll,  the 
sign  that  its  contents  are  hidden,  and  written  within 
and  without,  i.  e.  upon  both  sides,  or  within  and  also  on 
the  back, — filled  to  its  very  margins  like  the  roll  in  Eze- 
kiel  (ch.  2:9-10), — indicating  the  exceeding  fulness  of  its 
contents  and  the  completeness  of  the  divine  plan,  is  seen 
lying  'in  [or  upon]  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the 
throne'.   This  book,  which  at  first  no  one  can  be  found  to 

^Fairbairn  regards  the  cherubim  as  typifying  'Earth's  living  creaturehood, 
especially  man.  its  rational  and  immortal  head'.  See  his  Typologij,  vol.  1,  pp. 
125-208.  Plummer  similarly  interprets  the  living  beings  as  symbolical  of  all 
animal  life,  and  suggests  that  the  human  face  of  the  cherubim  represents 
'humanity  as  distinct  from  the  church  (which  is  represented  by  the  four  and 
twenty  elders),  and  appears  to  indicate  the  power  of  God  to  use  for  his  pur- 
poses and  his  glory  that  part  of  mankind  which  has  not  been  received  into  the 
church.'  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  146.  Also  see  art.  'Cherubim,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of 
Bib.;  and  for  an  apocalyptic  description  of  the  cherubim,  Bk.  of  Enoch  (ed. 
Charles),   14.11,18;  20.7;  61.10;   76.7. 


120    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

open,  apparently  contains  God's  multitudinous  and  un- 
revealed  purposes  concerning  the  future  course  of  the 
church  in  the  world, — as  is  afterward  more  fully  indi- 
cated by  the  nature  of  the  things  portrayed  when  the  seals 
are  broken, — for  it  evidently  pertains  to  the  mysteries  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  part  of  which  are  about  to 
be  disclosed  to  John.^  The  book  is  closed  by  seven  seals, 
a  perfect  number,  the  symbol  implying  that  it  is  perfectly 
sealed  or  fully  closed,^  a  roll  apparently  sealed  in 
sections,  perhaps  with  the  end  of  the  parchment  fas- 
tened down  by  the  seals  to  its  staff  so  that  it  cannot 
be  opened  except  by  one  having  authority  to  break  the 
seals. ^  The  book  itself,  it  should  be  noted,  is  never  read 
at  any  period  of  the  vision,  showing  that  what  it  contains 
is  not  fully  disclosed,  but  as  the  seals  are  broken  the  gen- 
eral nature  of  the  contents  of  each  section  is  symbolically 
portrayed  in  the  form  set  forth  in  the  succeeding  vision 
of  the  seals. 

6     The  Lamb  Ch.  5 :6— 8a 

At  this  point  in  the  vision  the  divine  Redeemer,  Je- 
sus Christ,  appears  in  order  to  open  the  seals,  portrayed 
as  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  recognized  atoner  for  sin,  a  sym- 
bol of  striking  power  to  every  one  familiar  ^vith  the  Old 
Testament  system  of  sacrifices.  The  importance  of  open- 
ing the  seals  had  been  already  indicated  in  the  vision  (ch. 
5:2f.)  by  the  appearance  of  a  strong  or  mighty  angel, 
the  sign  of  high  rank  and  great  power,  proclaiming  with 
a  great  voice,  'Who  is  worthy  to  open  the  book  and  to 
loose  the  seals  thereof?'  And  when  no  one  was  found 
'in  the  heaven,  or  on  the  earth,  or  under  the  earth',  i.  e. 
in  the  place  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead — a  phrase  equiva- 
lent to  saying  that  no  one  could  be  found  in  all  the  uni- 
verse— the  prophet  wept  much,  showing  his  deep  interest 
and  bitter  disappointment  when  his  expectation  seemed 

iStuiut,  Co7n.  on  Apoc,  p.  515  ;  also  cf.  Diisterdieck,  and  Plummer.  Other 
definitions,  though  differing  in  statement,  have  a  general  similarity.  For  ex- 
ample, Tiie  Book  of  Destiny'  (Bacon,  Jntr.  to  New  Test.,  p.  284)  ;  'The  Book  of 
Doom'  (Moffatt,  Exp.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.  p.  382)  :  'The  Book  of  History'  (Temple 
Bib.,  Intr.  to  Kev.,  p.  xxxvii)  ;  or,  better  still,  'The  Book  of  God's  Counsels' 
(Lee,  Bib.  Com..,  Rev.,  p.  563).  Faussett,  following  De  Burgh,  makes  the  book 
'The  Title-deed  of  Man's  Inheritance  Redeemed  by  Christ'  (J.  F.  &  B.  Com.  on 
Rev.,  p.  602).  Seiss  accepts  this  interpretation  and  explains  further  by  refer- 
ence to  Jewish  customs  of  land  tenure  (Lects.  on  Apoc.,  vol.  i,  p.  266f.).  The 
definition  preferred  in  the  present  volume  is  'The  Book  of  God's  Plan  for  the 
Ages.' 

='A  Roman  will,  when  written,  had  to  be  sealed  seven  times  in  order  to 
aulhenticate  it,  and  some  have  argued  that  this  explains  the  symbolism  here" 
(Exp.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.  p.  383)  ;  but  this  suggestion  is  of  doubtful  value  when  the 
Hebrew  use  of  seven  was  so  well   established. 

'See  Diisterdieck,  Meyer's    Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  207. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.    121 

about  to  fail.  But  one  of  the  elders,  a  representative  of 
the  redeemed  church,  points  out  to  John  him  who  is  able 
to  open  the  book  because  he  'hath  overcome',  indicating 
the  glorified  Redeemer  as  the  source  of  help.^  He  is  de- 
scribed by  the  elder  as  'the  Lion  that  is  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah'  (Gen.  49:9),  and  Hhe  Root  of  David'  (Isa.  11:1), 
indicating  his  kingly^  and  prophetic  relations  to  Israel; 
but  when  he  appears  to  John's  wondering  view  it  is  in 
sacrificial  form  as  the  Lamb  of  God,^  the  sign  of  his 
priestly  relation  to  his  people,  bearing  marks  as  though 
he  had  been  slain,  but  now  standing  in  living  powder  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne,  the  center  of  all  attention  and  the 
glorified  object  of  all  worship,  alike  the  agent  of  redemp- 
tion and  the  consummation  of  sacrifice.  The  words  '  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne '  may  mean  in  the  center  of  the  throne 
and  encircled  by  it,  or  between  the  throne  and  those  sur- 
rounding it.  Some  regard  the  throne  as  a  semi-circle  in 
the  open  side  of  which  the  Lamb  stands,  and  within  which 
are  placed  two  of  the  living  creatures,  with  the  other  two 
at  the  back,  while  the  elders  surround  the  throne,  and  the 
many  angels  form  the  outer  circle,*  a  view  that  is  helpful 
to  those  who  wish  detail  in  such  matters,  for  the  chief 
thought  in  the  symbolism  is  sufficiently  plain.  It  may  also 
be  worth  while  to  note  how  clearly  this  symbolism  implies 
that  the  redeemed  church,  represented  by  the  elders, 
stands  nearer  to  the  throne  of  God  than  even  the  angels.^ 
The  seven  horns  of  the  Lamb  symbolize  the  fulness  of 
his  power,  for  the  horn  is  the  Hebrew  emblem  of  power 
as  seven  is  of  fulness  or  completeness  of  quality;  and 
his  seven  eyes  represent  the  perfection  of  his  vision  and 
knowledge,  seeing  with  the  omniscient  eyes  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  (Zech.  4:10)  who  proceedeth  alike  from  the  Father 

I'The  ability  to  open  was  a  consequence  of  a  former  act  of  victory,  viz,  tlie 
redemption.'   Plummer,  Pulp.  Com,,  Rev.,  p.  164. 

='Tlie  kingship  of  Christ  Is  more  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Revelation  than  in 
any  other  part  of  the  New  Testament,  though  not  in  any  single  text,  but  by 
the  representations  of  the  book  throughout,'  Riddle,  unpublished  Classroom 
Lectures  on  Revelation.  Also  see  Pfleiderer,  Influence  of  Paul  on  Christianity 
(Hibbert   Lect.,    1885),   p.    130. 

3' John  looked  to  see  a  lion  and  beheld  a  Lamb,'  the  change  of  symbol 
seeming  to  indicate  that  'the  might  of  Christ  is  the  power  of  love.'  See  Stevens, 
New  Test.  Theol.  p.  542.  'The  name  which  most  expresses  what  Christ  is  to 
the  Christian  is  the  'Lamb.'  'This  is  used  twenty-nine  times  in  the  book.'  Porter, 
art.  Rev.,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.  'This  is  a  dramatic  way  of  expressing  the 
truth  that  the  efficient  factor  of  history  is  gentleness.'  Dean,  Book  of  Revela- 
tion, p.    103. 

*See  Bleek's  Lect.  on  Apoc.,  p.  200f. 

5Cf.   Bisping,  quoted  by   Plummer.  Pulp.   Com..   Rev.,   p.   1G7. 


122     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


and  the  Son.^  He  takes  the  book  out  of  the  right  hand  of 
God  as  a  token  of  his  rightful  authority,  an  act  full  of 
meaning,  for  he  alone  has  prevailed  and  has  power  to 
open  the  book  and  to  reveal  God's  purposes  because  he 
has  redeemed  the  church  and  himself  directs  the  path  of 
her  history.  In  this  sublime  vision  of  the  Lamb  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne  we  may  be  truly  said  to  have  reached 
Hhe  point  of  highest  dramatic  interest  in  the  whole  book'. 

7     The  Heavenly  Worship  Ch.  5:8b— 14 

The  taking  of  the  book  is  followed  by  an  act  of  pro- 
found worship ;  the  four  living  creatures  and  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  fall  down  before  the  Lamb,  having  each  one 
a  harp,  the  instrument  of  praise,  and  a  golden  bowl  full  of 
incense,  representing  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  which 
they  offer  before  God.  Then  they  voice  their  thought  in 
a  new  song,  the  song  of  the  redeemed  (the  Redemption 
Chorus),  which  is  rendered  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon 
the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  declaring  him  worthy 
that  hath  been  slain  to  take  the  book  and  to  open  the  seals, 
and  'to  receive  the  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
might,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing', — a  sevenfold 
or  complete  ascription  of  praise — who  hath  redeemed 
his  people  with  his  blood  out  '  of  every  tribe,  and  tongue, 
and  people,  and  nation', — a  fourfold  or  world-wide  re- 
demption for  all  peoples^ — 'and  madest  them  to  he  unto 
our  God  a  kingdom  and  priests ;  and  they  reign  upon  the 
earth',  even  now  in  the  midst  of  trials,  in  a  spiritual 
sense  which  though  imperfect  foreshadows  and  assures 
their  complete  spiritual  reign  in  the  new  world  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.  This  song  is  sung  by  the  four  liv- 
ing creatures  as  the  representatives  of  the  w^hole  creation 
who  unitedly  rejoice  in  the  work  of  redemption  together 
with  man,  and  by  the  four  and  twenty  elders  who  repre- 

I'This  description  of  the  glorified  Lord,  sublime  as  a  purely  mental  concep- 
tion, becomes  intolerable  if  we  give  it  outward  form  and  expression.'  (Trench, 
Ep's  to  Seven  Gh's.  p.  64).  In  fact,  'No  scene  in  the  great  Christian  Apoca- 
lypse can  be  successfully  reproduced  upon  canvas;  'the  imagery ...  .Is  symbolic 
and  not  pictorial,'  (Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  Intr.,  p.  cxxxiv.)  'SymTjolism  does 
not  appeal  to  the  pictorial  sense  at  all,  but  rather  to  some  analytic  faculty,  or 
conventional  association  of  ideas,'  (Moulton.  Bib.  Idyls,  Intr.  p.  xx).  The  in- 
congruity of  many  of  their  symbols  from  the  aesthetic  point  of  view  does  not 
seem  to  "have  occurred  to  the  Hebrew  mind,  for  with  them  the  religious  idea  was 
predominant.  Many  of  the  events  recorded  in  the  Revelation  are  manifestly 
impossible  except  in  a  vision. 

2'Here  we  have  the  ideas  of  ch.  1.  5  repeated  (i.  e.  of  the  love  and  redemp- 
tion of  Christ)  with  the  further  thought  that  love  like  that  displayed  in  Christ's 
death  for  man's  redemption  is  worthy  not  only  of  all  praise,  but  of  having  all 
the  future  committed  to  its  care.  It  is  really  a  pictorial  way  of  saying  that 
redeeming  love  is  the  last  reality  in  the  universe  which  all  praise  must  exalt 
and  to  which  everything  else  must  be  subordinate.'  Denney,  Death  of  Christ,  p. 
246. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     123 


sent  the  church  of  all  time,  the  personal  subjects  of  re- 
demption ;  and  it  is  chorused  by  an  innumerable  company 
of  angels,  God's  sinless  creation,  who  are  described  as 
consisting  of  'ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand',  i.  e.  the 
square  of  a  myriad,  a  hundred  millions  in  number  (or,  as 
the  words  may  mean,  'myriads  of  myriads'  i.  e.  hundreds 
of  millions),  and  in  addition  'thousand  of  thousands', 
i.  e.  millions  more, — a  symbolical  expression  for  a  num- 
berless host;  and  it  is  echoed  by  'every  created  thing 
which  is  in  the  heaven  and  on  the  earth  and  under  the 
earth  and  on  the  sea',  i.  e.  it  is  re-echoed  from  every  cre- 
ated being  throughout  the  universe.   Thus  the  Chorus  of 
Creation,  wonderful  as  it  was,  is  surpassed  by  the  Chorus 
of  Redemption :  and  the  four  living  creatures  who  repre- 
sent creation  said  in  full  accord,  'Amen',  while  the  four 
and  twenty  elders  'fell  down  and  worshipped'  him  that 
liveth  forever  and  ever.    The  opening  of  the  seals  then 
follows,  and  because  of  its  widely  different  bearing  from 
that  wdiich  precedes,  is  usually  considered  as  forming 
a  separate  vision,  though  the  transition  is  not  otherwise 
marked  than  by  a  change  of  action  and  progress   of 
thought. 

II     The  Vision  of  the  Seven  Seals  (A  Vision  of  Trial) 

Ch.  6:1—17,  and  8:1 

The  vision  of  the  seven  seals  is  a  prophetic  delinea- 
tion of  the  trials  and  triumphs  of  the  church  of  Christ 
throughout  all  her  history,  especially  from  the  days  of 
John  to  the  end  of  the  world,  depicted  in  the  symbols  of 
Apocalyptic.  These  trials  fall  upon  all  men  in  common, 
and  from  another  point  of  view  are  also  judgments  upon 
the  sinful  world,  but  they  are  regarded  here  chiefly  as 
involving  the  church  in  suffering,  and  as  preparing  the 
way  for  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  coming 
of  our  Lord,  and  the  final  consummation  of  all  things. 
The  opening  of  the  seals  by  Christ  indicates  his  purpose 
of  revealing  the  hidden  contents  of  the  book  which  he 
had  taken  from  the  right  hand  of  God  (ch.  5:7),  and  the 
number  of  the  seals  (seven)  shows  the  completeness  of 
the  series.  The  order  of  the  seals  is  progressive,  but 
they  have  no  definite  or  categorical  time-relation;  they 
regard  only  the  ceaseless  swing  of  the  ages  ever  sweeping 
on  toward  the  final  consummation.  The  underlying  di- 
vine purpose  of  testin,g  men  by  moral  struggle  is  ap- 


124     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION. 

parent  throughout;  the  trials  set  forth  are  disciplinary 
to  those  who  believe,  but  punitive  to  those  who  resist. 
The  form  of  trials  in  the  vision  is  that  of  an  illustrative 
sjTubolisni  which  should  not  be  limited  in  interpretation 
to  the  few  particular  kinds  of  trouble  that  are  described, 
but  should  be  taken  as  representative  of  the  whole  round 
of  sorrows  endured  by  God's  people  throughout  all  time, 
a  prophetic  forecast  which,  though  receiving  an  immedi- 
ate fulfilment  in  the  experience  of  the  early  church,  has 
yet  had  and  will  have  a  further  and  wider  fulfilment 
throughout  the  course  of  the  ages.  The  subordinate  ele- 
ment of  judgment  upon  the  wicked  in  the  vision  is  implied 
rather  than  stated,  except  under  the  sixth  seal ;  neverthe- 
less upon  further  reflection  it  may  be  clearly  seen,  for 
the  advanciug  conquest  of  Christ  includes  the  overthrow 
of  the  wicked,  while  the  sorrows  of  war,  famine,  and 
death  fall  upon  them  without  any  consolation  like  the  rec- 
ompense of  the  righteous,  the  avenging  of  the  martyrs 
is  foretold  as  eventually  to  be  visited  upon  them,  and 
amidst  the  terrors  of  the  final  judgment  they  find  no 
availing  refuge,  but  cry  to  the  mountains  and  to  the  rocks 
to  fall  upon  them  to  hide  them  from  the  face  of  him  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb. 
This  bearing  of  the  trials  of  the  seals,  revealing  judg- 
ment upon  the  world,  should  not  be  overlooked  in  our  in- 
terpretation, though  we  should  not  lay  special  stress  up- 
on it,  for  it  is  not  the  foremost  thought  in  mind. 

In  entering  upon  the  more  obscure  portions  of  the 
book  it  may  be  well  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  inter- 
pretation will  be  much  simplified,  and  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties will  disappear,  if  we  regard  all  the  mysterious 
action  in  these  visions  as  in  the  broadest  sense  symboli- 
cal, and  not  requiring  detailed  application.  And  although 
an  effort  may  well  be  made  to  recover  what  has  been 
called  the  'ground-view'  of  the  Apostle,  i.  e.  the  natural 
application  of  the  prophecy  that  lay  in  the  immediate 
horizon  of  history  and  belonged  to  the  conditions  of  his 
time,  yet  this  cannot  be  regarded  as  absolutely  essential 
to  the  correct  interpretation  for  us  and  for  all  ages.  We 
should  not  forget  that  we  are  dealing  with  what  is  really 
a  great  creative  poem  in  prose,  containing  idealized  con- 
ceptions of  widely  pervasive  principles,  and  therefore 
its  true  interpretation  lies  in  facts  of  universal  experience 
rather  than  in  the  special  circumstances  which  helped 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.     125 

to  g'ive  it  form  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  but  beyond  which 
he  passed  with  poetic  freedom  to  grasp  the  larger  ideal — 
for  to  deny  that  John  had  any  such  ideal  in  mind  is  to  do 
injustice  both  to  his  prophetic  and  poetic  insight.  And 
if  in  our  anxiety  to  reproduce  the  author's  native  hori- 
zon, we  allow  the  basis  of  historical  fact  to  become  the 
chief  matter  of  concern,  we  are  sure  to  lose  in  literary 
insight  in  the  interpretation  of  the  book  far  more  than  we 
gain  through  clearness  of  local  perspective.  For  it  is  al- 
ways to  be  reckoned  'amongst  the  impediments  to  the 
study  of  literature. ,  .that  the  personality  of  the  author, 
and  the  circumstances  of  actual  life,  are  forever  being  al- 
lowed to  interpose  between  a  creative  poem  and  the  mind 
of  the  reader  V  to  the  constant  hindrance  of  any  free  fol- 
lowing of  the  author's  constructive  idealization.  And  it 
is  only  by  avoiding  this  narrowing  influence  of  realism 
that  we  are  at  all  likely  to  reach  the  heart  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. 

1     The  Opening  of  the  First  Seal  Ch.  6 :1,2 

The  Lamb  as  the  ruler  and  revealer  of  destiny  opens 
the  seals.  At  the  call  of  one  of  the  four  living  creatures, 
'come ',2  a  white  horse  and  his  rider,  who  bears  a  bow, 
the  sign  of  warfare,  and  receives  a  crown,  the  token  of 
victory,  appear  in  view,  representing  Christ  going  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer,^  a  vision  depicting  the  be- 
ginning and  trend  of  the  gospel  age :  the  symbol  of  the 
victory  of  Christ's  cause  attained  through  conflict, 
Christianity  triumphing  in  the  earth, — for  the  progress 
of  the  life  of  the  church  is  viewed  like  that  of  the  national 
life  of  Israel  as  marked  by  constant  conflict.  The  assur- 
ance of  victory  is  made  to  precede  the  revelation  of  trial 
as  a  ground  of  comfort  and  confidence  throughout  the 
succeeding  seals.  We  may  properly  regard  the  contents 
of  this  seal  as  a  present  view  of  the  onward  course  of  the 

^Moulton's  Mofl.   Read.  Bib.,  Psa.  vol.  i,  Intr.,  p.  xxxiif. 

-The  call  is  most  naturally  understood  as  a  call  for  the  vision  to  appear. 
Slmcox  so  interprets  :  'Each  of  the  living  creatures  by  turns  summons  one  of 
the  horsemen.'  {Camhr.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.,  p.  85)  ;  Scott,  also,  holds  the  same  view 
(Neiv  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  176)  ;  and  Moffatt,  prefers  it  (New  Trans.  New 
Test.,  footnote).  Plummer,  however,  says  the  call  is  addressed  to  John, — per- 
haps a  more  common  view  ;  on  the  other  hand  Alford,  Milligan,  and  Swete,  say 
the  call  is  to  Christ  to  come.  The  view  that  the  call  is  addressed  to  the  rider 
is  more  likely  correct,  though  the  interpretation  of  the  seals  is  not  materially 
affected  by  the  view  we  may  take  of  this  part  of  the  symbolism.  In  any  case, 
'Each  living  being  invites  attention  to  the  revelation  of  the  future  of  that 
creation  of  which  they  are  all  representatives.'  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   185. 

^Conquerinc/,  and  that  he  may  conquer.  This  is  the  key  to  the  whole  vision. 
Only  of  Christ  and  his  kingdom  can  it  be  said  that  it  is  to  conquer ..  .only  of 
Christ's  kingdom  shall  there  be  no  end.'   Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   184. 


126     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION 

church,  the  details  of  which  are  to  be  imagined  rather 
than  described,  a  suggestive  picture  which  stamps  itself 
upon  the  mind,  for  the  fi,gure  of  the  crowned  and  conquer- 
ing Christ  once  distinctly  seen  can  never  be  effaced  but 
marks  all  our  after-thought  of  him.  This  vision  was  real- 
ized in  some  measure  in  the  splendid  growth  of  the 
church  in  the  first  and  following  centuries,  but  the  full 
realization  of  its  promise  lies  in  the  fulness  of  the  ages 
(ch.  19:11-21) — Christ  is  ever  moving  on  throiigh  the 
years  to  final  victory. 

Many  historical  interpreters  find  in  this  rider  the 
symbol  of  conquest,  especially  of  judgment  on  the  Roman 
Empire  by  the  Parthians,  indicated  by  the  bow,  their 
usual  weapon,  and  premonitory  of  the  end.^  In  that  case 
the  first  seal,  like  the  succeeding  ones,  would  indicate  a 
form  of  trial  to  the  church.  Others  see  in  the  rider  the 
the  si,gn  of  Roman  conquest,  and  in  the  subsequent  seals 
precursors  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  assuming  the 
earlier  date  of  the  book.  These  views,  however,  fail  to 
recognize  the  close  similarity  and  apparent  identity  of 
the  rider  in  this  vision  with  the  one  on  the  white  horse  in 
chapter  nineteen  (v.  11)  who  is  evidently  divine;^  nor 
do  they  agree  with  the  above  view  as  to  the  scope  of  the 
seals,  but  limit  them  to  the  first  century,  while  in  the  in- 
terpretation given  in  this  work  they  reach  forward 
throughout  the  history  of  the  church  to  the  end  of  time. 
We  must  be  duly  careful,  according  to  the  symbolic  view, 
not  to  limit  the  prophecy  to  too  narrow  a  scope  in  its 
complete  fulfilment,  and  especially  not  to  exclude  the 
world-wide  and  universal  reference,  even  though  it  be  re- 
garded as  the  secondary  meaning,  since  to  many  minds 
this  is  the  essential  and  larger  thought  in  the  vision.  For 
we  should  not  forget  that  while  the  visions  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, like  the  voices  of  prophecy  and  the  parables  and 
teachings  of  our  Lord,  had  their  immediate  occasion  and 
purpose,  yet  this  becomes  in  turn  the  ground  and  instru- 
ment of  a  wider  and  permanent  divine  message  to  all 
mankind,  and  that  this  is  the  message  which  is  our  chief 
concern. 

^New  Cent.  Bib..  Rev.,  p.  179  ;  also  see  Mommsen's  Provinces  of  Rom.  Emp., 
vol.  ii,  p.  1  (note),  Swete  regards  the  first  seal  as  'a  picture  of  triumphant  mili- 
tarism.' Apoc.   St  John.  p.  84. 

2'White  is  always  typical  in  the  Revelation  of  heavenly  things,'  Plummer, 
(Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  183).  'If  any  other  than  our  Lord  is  he  that  goes  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer,  then,  though  the  subsequent  interpretation  may 
have  occasional  points  of  contact  with  truth,.., the  true  key  of  the  book  is 
lost.'    (Alford,  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  p.  249). 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     127 

2  The  Opening  of  the  Second  Seal  Ch.  6 :3,4 

At  the  call  of  the  second  living  creature,  'Come',  a 
red  horse  and  his  rider  appear,  to  whom  is  given  a 
great  sword,  and  power  to  take  peace  from  the  earth: 
the  symbol  of  war,  and  of  consequent  trial  to  the  church. 
The  blood-red  horse  with  his  armed  rider  betokens  the 
carna,ge  of  battle,  and  suggests  all  the  horrors  of  blood- 
shed with  its  accompanying  train  of  suffering.  It  is  a 
prediction  not  of  any  particular  war  or  wars,  but  of  war 
in  general,  as  the  'wars  and  rumors  of  wars'  in  our  Sav- 
iour's discourse  (Mt.  24:6).  And  it  was  only  as  it  was 
'given  unto  him'  (v.  4),  we  are  told,  that  the  rider  could 
accomplish  his  mission,  thereby  indicating  the  divine 
authority,  limitation,  and  restraint.  The  sword  is  the 
same  as  the  sacrificial  knife,  and  the  term  used  for  slay- 
ing in  the  passage  is  the  Greek  term  for  killing  the  sacri- 
ficial victim,  which  may  be  intended  to  imply  that  the 
slaughter  of  the  saints  is  to  be  included  with  others.^ 
The  contents  of  this  seal  were  realized  to  some  extent  in 
the  Jewish  war  connected  with  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  and 
in  the  subsequent  wars  of  the  Roman  Empire  which  en- 
tailed great  suffering  upon  the  church  as  well  as  upon 
the  world.  The  form  of  the  prophecy,  however,  does  not 
preclude  reference  to  the  then  past  as  well  as  to  present 
and  to  future  events;  it  points  to  the  experience  of  God's 
children  in  every  age,  to  the  Jewish  as  well  as  the  Chris- 
tian church,  though  doubtless  with  the  future  specially 
in  view.  These  sorrows  have  been  repeated  again  and 
again  in  the  numberless  wars  of  history,  and  may  be 
repeated  afresh  in  the  future,  for  war  is  a  constant  trial 
of  the  church  throughout  the  centuries.  The  symbol  of 
the  armed  rider  on  the  blood-red  horse  presents  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  horrors  of  war.  It  was  a  figure  which 
spoke  to  the  imaginative  Eastern  mind  with  a  power  su- 
perior to  words,  especially  to  those  who  had  known  in 
their  own  experience  the  destructive  ravages  of  war ;  but 
the  details  were  left  to  be  supplied  by  individual  thought. 

3  The  Opening  of  the  Third  Seal  Ch.  6:5,6 

At  the  call  of  the  third  living  creature,  'Come',  a 
black  horse  and  his  rider  appear,  weighing  out  grain 
with  a  balance :  the  symbol  of  famine,  want,  and  conse- 

ipiummer,    Pulp.    Com.,    Rev.,    p.    185.     For    a    different    interpretation    see 
Milligan,  Expos.  Bib.,   Rev.,  p.  91. 


128     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

quent  suffering  by  the  church.  This  expressive  figure 
of  the  black  horse  and  his  rider  with  a  balance  foretold 
in  a  form  that  surpassed  the  power  of  language  to  de- 
scribe, the  prevailing  gloom  and  distress  of  famine. 
G-rain  is  sold  by  weight  instead  of  measure,  thereby  in- 
dicating its  scarcity  (Ezek.  4:16),  and  the  price  is  from 
eight  to  twelve  times  its  usual  cost,  the  food  of  a  working 
man  requiring  his  entire  wages,  and  leaving  those  de- 
pendent on  him  without  support.^  The  famine  indicated 
is  not,  however,  any  special  season  of  want,  but  recur- 
rent famine  as  a  condition  of  trial,  and  is  limited  in  its 
extent,  as  indicated  by  preserving  the  oil  and  the  wine 
which  may  be  regarded  as  typical  articles  of  food,  or  the 
best  of  the  things  of  common  lif e^ — a  famine  affecting  the 
poor  rather  than  the  rich,  the  multitude  rather  than  the 
few.  The  contents  of  this  seal  were  realized  in  prevail- 
ing famines  such  as  that  under  Claudius,  that  at  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem,  and  many  other  seasons  of  want  which 
have  occurred  at  different  times  throughout  the  ages,  but 
especially  in  the  ancient  world  and  in  the  Far  East.  The 
emaciation  and  terror  produced  by  hunger  and  want  was 
a  form  of  suffering  too  well  known  among  the  inhab- 
itants of  those  lands  to  need  any  further  emphasis — it 
spoke  a  language  of  its  own  to  all  those  who  had  felt  its 
power. 

4     The  Opening  of  the  Fourth  Seal  Ch.  6 :7,8 

At  the  call  of  the  fourth  living  creature,  'Come',  a 
pale,  ashen  colored,  or  green  horse,  and  his  rider  Death 
appear,  with  Hades  following  after,  i.  e.  the  world  of 
departed  spirits  accompanying  death  as  his  after-part 
to  swallow  up  his  victims,  both  personified,  and  with  pow- 
er given  them  to  kill  with  the  sword  and  with  famine  and 
with  death  in  all  its  forms:  the  symbol  of  mortality  in 
the  church,  destroying  the  forces  of  the  kingdom.  The 
pale  green  or  livid  horse,  the  color  of  a  corpse,  reflects 
the  ghastliness  of  a  dead  body  bordering  on  dissolution, 
and  points  to  the  ruin  wrought  by  death.  Death  is  here 
considered  as  in  itself  a  trial,  and  some  of  the  more  ter- 

>'A  choenix  of  wheat  for  a  denarius  &c.  The  chocnix  appears  to  have  been 
the  food  allotted  to  one  man  for  a  day  ;  while  the  denarius  was  the  pay  of  a 
soldier  or  of  a  common  laborer  for  one  day.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  185. 

^The  oil  and  the  wine  are  interpreted  by  some  (as  Wordsworth,  and  Milli- 
gan)  to  mean  spiritual  food  which  will  not  be  lacking  in  time  of  famine;  but 
this  opinion  is  not  sustained  by  anything  in  the  text.  Swete  understands  the 
vision  to  forbid  famine  prices,  and  to  refer  only  to  relative  hardships — an 
unusual  view. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     129 

rible  and  widespread  agencies  by  which  it  is  brought 
about  are  mentioned  in  order  to  make  its  ravages  more 
impressive.  Among  other  forms  death  by  sword  and 
famine  are  included,  evils  already  introduced  under  the 
two  former  seals  as  the  occasion  of  suffering,  but  here  re- 
garded as  leading  to  death  and  constituting  a  separate 
trial.  The  trial  of  this  seal  is  also  limited,  and  affects  only 
one  fourth  of  men,  i.  e.  a  fractional  part,  not  an  actual 
fourth,  the  fourth  being  perhaps  suggested  by  the  four 
horsemen.  The  contents  of  this  seal  were  realized  in  the 
fearful  mortality  of  Roman  times  by  means  of  the  four- 
fold scourge  of  sword,  famine,  pestilence,  and  wild  beasts, 
the  crown  of  all  sorrows  to  the  Jewish  mind;  but  they 
have  also  been  realized  in  a  similar  way,  though  different 
form,  through  the  many  dread  visitations  of  death  in  lat- 
er days. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  almost  every  part  of  the  sym- 
bolism in  these  visions  has  a  meaning  of  its  own.  The 
horse  in  motion  seems  to  indicate  the  swift  progress  and 
triumphal  march  through  the  earth  of  the  things  repre- 
sented in  the  first  four  seals,  viz.  of  Christianity  the  con- 
quering religion,  and  also  of  war,  famine,  and  death,  the 
widespread  terrors  which  are  impersonated  by  the  riders 
as  treading  the  path  of  the  centuries.  The  color  of  the  dif- 
ferent horses,  too,  is  not  without  significance ;  white  is  the 
sign  of  victory  (white  horses  were  not  uncommonly  rid- 
den by  Roman  conquerors)^  and  it  is  also  the  symbol  of 
purity,  while  red  is  the  symbol  of  bloodshed,  black  of 
want,  and  pale  or  ashen  green  of  death,  each  of  the  latter 
betokening  something  of  the  nature  of  the  scourge  which 
they  bring  to  men.  The  w^hole  content  of  the  seals  presents 
R  bare  outline  of  various  forms  of  suffering,  and  is  in- 
tended to  typify  a  multitude  of  sorrows  that  are  un- 
named. It  should  be  noted,  too,  that  at  the  close  of  the 
fourth  seal  a  division  of  the  seals  is  apparent  into  two 
groups  w^ith  four  and  three  in  each.  The  first  four  relate 
to  the  sphere  of  the  natural  world,  as  the  number  four 
indicates,  and  the  fact  also  that  they  are  ushered  in  by 
the  four  living  creatures  who  represent  creation.  These 
seals  are  chiefly  designed  to  show  that  during  the  period 
in  which  Christ  is  carrying  forward  his  conquest  unto 

^It  is  doubtless  true,  as  pointed  out  by  Ramsay,  that  according  to  the  usual 
custom  in  celebrating  a  triumph  'the  Roman  generals  were  borne  in  a  four- 
horse  car'  (Letters  to  Seven  Churches,  p.  58).  This,  however,  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  necessarily  or  always  the  case,  and  even  when  so,  the  horses  were 
white.  Cf.  Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  84  ;  and  Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  177. 


130    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

victory,  both  trial  and  suffering  in  this  world  form  part 
of  the  divine  purpose  of  discipline  for  his  people  which 
cannot  be  escaped  from  but  should  be  endured  with  pa- 
tience and  hope.  The  last  three  seals  relate  to  the  things 
of  the  spiritual  life,  of  which  three  is  the  symbol,  and 
point  forward  to  the  future  and  great  reward  in  the 
world  to  come  which  is  about  to  be  realized  by  those  who 
are  faithful.  The  same  division  into  four  and  three,  per- 
taining to  the  natural  and  the  spiritual,  though  with  a  dis- 
tinctive application,  is  found  in  the  visions  of  the  trum- 
pets and  vials  (see  App'x.  D). 

5     The  Opening  of  the  Fifth  Seal  Ch.  6 :9— 11 

At  the  opening  of  the  fifth  seal  a  vision  of  the  souls 
of  the  martyrs  appears,  viz.  of  those  'that  had  been  slain 
for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they 
held'  (cf.  ch.  19:10),  who  are  now  seen  underneath  the 
altar  (i.  e.  the  equivalent  of  the  great  brazen  altar  of 
sacrifice  in  the  Jewish  service,  at  the  foot  of  which  the 
blood  of  the  sacrificial  victims  Avas  poured)  as  the  sign  of 
their  having  sacrificed  their  lives  for  the  truth.  The 
altar  is  in  the  heavenly  temple,  which  to  the  Jewish  mind 
was  the  archetype  of  the  earthly,  where  they  are  found 
crying  to  God  as  their  master^  to  judge  and  avenge  them, 
i.  e.  calling  for  vindication,  not  for  vengeance  in  the  earth- 
ly sense ;  and  they  receive  each  a  white  robe,  the  recog- 
nized symbol  of  purity  and  victory,  and  are  bidden  to 
rest  until  the  roll  of  martyrs  is  complete  :^  the  symbol 
of  martyrdom  so  often  experienced  by  the  church 
throughout  the  ages.  These  saints  of  God  have  not  been 
delivered  from  death,  but  they  have  been  delivered 
through  death.  The  limit  of  this  trial  is  the  'little  time' 
of  the  church's  further  conflict,  a  period  looked  upon  as 
relatively  short  in  the  whole  course  of  the  centuries, 
though  not  in  itself  necessarily  short  or  definitely  limited, 
for  the  'little  time'  is  practically  the  whole  period  of 
this  and  the  preceding  seals.    The  contents  of  this  seal 

lit  is  interesting  to  note  that  God  is  here  described  (v.  10)  as  o  6ean6T7]g 
an  absolute  ruler,  a  word  implying  the  divine  might  and  authority,  which 
occurs  but  once  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  which  is  translated  'Lord'  in  the  A.  V., 
and  'Master'  in  the  R.  V.  This  term,  it  should  be  understood,  is  'strictly  the 
correlative  of  slave,  cJoiJ/lof,  and  hence  denotes  absolute  ownership  and  uncon- 
trolled power.'  (Thayer's  Gr.-Eng.  Lex.  New  Test.)  In  its  present  use  'it  would 
seem  to  convey  the  idea  of  personal  relationship,  as  Paul  speaks  of  himself  as 
the  slave  of  Christ  (dovXog).'  (Strong,  art.  'John,  Apostle,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of 
Bib.) 

^For  an  interesting  parallel  passage  in  Apocalyptic  literature  see  Ascension 
of  Isaiah,  9.7-18,  where  the  saints,  as  here,  receive  a  preliminary  reward  ;  also, 
Bk  of  Enoch,  22. 5f,  where  the  voice  of  the  spirits  of  the  children  of  men  who 
were  dead  'penetrated  to  heaven  and  complained.' 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     131 

were  partly  realized  in  the  ten  persecutions  of  the  early- 
church,  especially  those  under  Nero,  and  under  Domiti- 
an,  belongin,g  to  the  period  of  the  Apocalj^pse ;  but  they 
have  also  been  realized  in  every  subsequent  persecution 
that  has  followed  the  planting  of  the  gospel  in  heathen 
lands.  The  martyrs  belong  to  all  ages  and  all  nations,  and 
include  every  man  who  has  given  his  life  as  a  testimony 
for  the  truth;  and  this  seal  looks  along  the  whole  line 
and  comprehends  every  martyr  of  every  ag'e. 

6     The  Opening  of  the  Sixth  Seal  Ch.  6 :12— 17 

At  the  opening  of  the  sixth  seal  a  vision  of  an  earth- 
quake appears,  in  which  the  sun  became  black  as  sack- 
cloth of  hair,  the  whole  moon  as  blood,  and  the  stars  of 
heaven  fell,  while  even  the  heaven  itself  was  removed  as 
a  scroll  when  it  is  rolled  up,  and  every  mountain  and  is- 
land were  moved  out  of  their  places,  for  we  are  told  that 
the  day,  the  great  day,  of  divine  wrath  is  come :  the  sym- 
bol of  judgment  and  retribution,  especially  of  the  last 
judgment,  and  of  the  destruction  of  the  world.  The  ter- 
rors of  the  judgment  thus  described  are  sevenfold,  af- 
fecting the  earth,  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the  heav- 
ens, the  mountains,  and  the  islands ;  and  seven  classes  of 
men  are  mentioned,  who  call  to  the  rocks  and  the  moun- 
tains to  fall  upon  them  and  to  hide  them  from  the  wrath 
of  the  Lamb,  viz.  the  kings  of  the  earth,  the  princes,  the 
chief  captains,  the  rich,  the  strong,  and  every  bondman, 
and  every  freeman, — additional  signs  of  universality  and 
completeness.  The  contents  of  this  seal  have  been  real- 
ized in  one  way  in  the  crises  of  history  and  the  fall  of  em- 
pires, which  we  may  regard  as  described  here  after  the 
analogy  of  Jewish  Apocalyptic,  under  the  form  of  a  great 
catastrophe  of  nature  bringing  to  an  end  the  existing 
order  of  things — the  fortunes  of  the  people  of  God, 
though  not  their  fate,  being  conceived  of  as  inseparably 
interwoven  with  the  world  of  nature;  but  this  is  only 
a  temporary  and  passing  fulfilment  which  foreshadows 
and  points  to  the  final  day  of  wrath  (called  in  Greek  (v. 
17),  'the  day,  the  great  [day]  of  their  wrath',  i.  e.  of  the 
wrath  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb),  or  the  day  of  the  Lord,^ 

I'The  day  of  the  Lord'  is  a  notable  phrase  in  the  New  Testament,  and  should 
receive  our  careful  attention,  though  it  only  occurs  twice  in  the  Apocalypse 
(ch.  6.14;  16.14).  As  Davidson  interprets  it,  'The  day  of  the  Lord  is  an  eschato- 
logical  idea  ;  the  phrase  therefore  cannot  be  rendered  'a  day  of  the  Lord,'  as  if 
any  great  calamity  or  judgment  felt  to  be  impending  might  be  so  named  :  the 
day  is  that  of  final  and  universal  judgment.'  (See  art.  'Eschatol,  of  Old  Test.'; 
Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.).  This  view,  however,  must  not  be  applied  too  strictly; 
for   while    it   is   clear   that    the   final   day    is   usually    the   thought   in   mind,   yet 


132     STUDIES  in  tlie  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

and  the  end  of  the  world.  The  End  is  a  constant  element 
in  all  Apocalyptic  writings,  as  it  is  the  recurrent  point 
of  interest  with  John  in  the  Apocalypse;  and  it 
was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  influence  of  Jewish  Apocalyp- 
tic conceptions  that  an  expectation  commonly  prevailed 
in  the  primitive  church  that  the  End  was  close  at  hand, 
and  that  it  would  come  not  through  development  but 
through  crises  of  judgment.^  The  important  part  which 
the  End  has  in  the  Apocalypse  may  be  regarded  as  owing 
in  some  degree  to  the  place  it  must  necessarily  occupy  in 
any  exhaustive  scheme  of  the  course  of  the  world ;  but  it 
is  perhaps  more  largely  due  to  the  peculiar  view-point  of 
Apocalyptic,  which  exalted  the  End  out  of  proportion  to 
the  present  in  order  to  impress  more  deeply  its  lessons.^ 

All  the  visions  of  the  six  seals  had  a  particular  appli- 
cation and  an  undoubted  though  partial  fulfilment  in  the 
first  age  in  which  they  were  given ;  but  they  have  a  wid- 
er and  more  perfect  fulfilment  in  all  subsequent  time, 
and  perhaps  will  have  an  especially  complete  fulfilment  in 
the  last  time,  such  as  we  know  that  the  sixth  seal  will 
surely  have.  To  seek  constantly,  however,  for  a  merely 
literal  fulfilment  is  surely  to  emphasize  the  least  impor- 
tant part  of  their  meaning,  and  to  limit  them  narrowly 
to  a  definite  historical  event  is  to  rob  them  of  their  larg- 
er purpose,  for  they  are  wide-flung  types  that  speak  as 
with  a  thousand  ton,gues  to  the  open  ear  and  ready  mind. 

[In  the  order  of  the  Revelation  the  connection  is  at 
this  point  interrupted  and  the  climax  suspended  bv  intro- 
ducing the  Episode  of  the  Sealed  Ones  (ch.  7:1-17), 
which  will  be  found  under  lib.  The  episodes  are  given 
separately  in  this  outline,  and  outside  of  their  proper 
position  in  the  text,  for  the  sake  of  clearness  and  em- 
phasis]. 

7     The  Opening  of  the  Seventh  Seal  Ch.  8 :1 

At  the  opening  of  the  seventh  seal  a  vision  of  heaven 
wrapped  in  perfect  silence  appears :  the  symbol  of  mys- 
tery, the  unrevealed,  the  unspoken,  the  ineffable  bliss  of 
heaven  which  cannot  be  told  in  human  words  or  por- 
trayed in  physical  form,  the  great  sabbath  of  the  church's 
history, — a  significant  sign  of  the  deep,  unbroken  rest 

through  long  and  continuous  use  the  phrase  'the  day  of  the  Lord'  seems  to  have 
acquired  a  wider  application,  and  to  have  been  applied  to  any  striking  crisis  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  each  day  of  the  Lord  being,  however,  a  type  of  the 
final  and  great  day.    (See  Rawlinson,  Pulp.  Com.,  Isa.,  p.  228). 

iCf.  Neic  Cent.  Bib..   Rev.,   p.   124. 

^See  App'x  G,  'Apoc.  Lit.' 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.     133 

from  conflict  and  toil  into  which  the  people  of  God  shall 
enter  at  the  end  of  the  earthly  trial,  and  of  the  fulness  of 
joy  to  be  realized  in  the  future  life  of  the  redeemed  when 
the  conflict  and  judgment  of  this  world  are  over,  all  of 
which  now  lies  beyond  the  power  of  words  or  vision  to 
describe  or  display.  The  form  of  the  vision  is  remarka- 
bly suggestive;  the  silence  indicates  that  which  cannot 
be  spoken;  it  gives  time  for  thought  that  is  beyond  ex- 
pression, deepens  'the  sense  of  trembling  suspense',  and 
serves  to  quicken  anticipation  of  the  revelation  to  fol- 
low.^ The  contents  of  this  seal  are  to  be  realized  in  the 
future  life  of  the  redeemed  after  the  conflict  and  judg- 
ment of  this  world  are  over,  and  they  cannot  now  be  re- 
vealed except  in  symbol;  they  lie  beyond  the  sphere  of 
earthly  thought.  The  half-hour  is  a  broken,  fractional 
number,  implying  a  limited  period,  and  is  here  the  sign 
of  the  relatively  brief  time  during  which  John  beheld  the 
vision, — for  the  period  covered  by  the  thought  of  the 
vision  is  the  w^hole  period  of  eternity,  the  future  endless 
life  with  God,  and  only  a  glimpse  of  it  is  given  at  this 
point  in  order  to  reassure  the  hearts  of  God's  children 
in  the  midst  of  conflict, — thus  affording  an  impressive 
break  between  the  seals  and  the  trumpets,  which,  though 
short  in  itself,  must  have  seemed  relatively  long  to  the 
beholder  in  the  midst  of  such  stirring  scenes.  The  silence 
may  have  been  suggested  to  John's  mind  by  that  which 
the  people  kept  during  the  time  when  the  priest  offered 
incense  in  the  temple,  for  we  find  that  the  offering  of  in- 
cense by  an  angel  immediately  follows  (v.  2-5),^  and  the 
solemnity  of  that  time  in  John's  own  experience  of  the 
ritual  worship  may  well  have  left  its  impress  upon  his 
mind.  In  closing  the  series  it  remains  to  be  said  that 
the  last  seal,  notwithstanding  that  its  contents  are  in- 
completely developed,  yet  joins  with  the  first,  and  serves 
to  mark  out  the  whole  course  of  the  church's  history 
through  all  the  dread  and  storm  of  the  other  seals,  as 
ever  advancing  from  opening  conquest  to  final  peace, 
all  the  trials  of  the  seals  leading  on  to  deep  quiet  in  the 
end,  the  symbol  of  the  great  and  enduring  peace  of  God. 

^The  view  here  given,  limiting  the  contents  of  the  seventh  seal  to  the 
first  verse  of  the  eighth  chapter,  is  upon  the  whole  the  preferable  one  (Plummer, 
Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  229  ;  Wordsworth,  The  Apoc,  p.  155  ;  and  Vaughan.  Lect.  on 
Rev.,  pp.  204-5),  though  it  is  disputed  on  exegetlcal  grounds  by  Dusterdieck  and 
others  (Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.  p.  261  f.).  It  will  be  found,  however,  that  it 
is  amply  sustained  by  a  broad  view  of  the  context.  This  verse  (ch.  8.1)  might 
well  have  been  included  in  chapter  seven,  at  the  close  of  the  episode  of  the 
sealed  ones  where  it  properly  belongs. 

^Lee,  Bib.   Com.,  Rev.,   p.   595. 


134     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

It  may  be  well  for  us  before  entering  upon  the  epi- 
sode of  consolation  in  the  seventh  chapter,  to  review  rap- 
idly the  steps  by  which  the  prime  purpose  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse has  been  thus  far  wrought  out  in  the  vision  of 
the  seven  seals,  viz.  to  encourage  the  hearts  of  weak 
and  suffering  Christians  and  to  fortify  their  patience  on 
the  upward  way  in  the  midst  of  trial  and  distress  by 
pointing  out  the  path  of  faith  and  hope  alike  to  the  cer- 
tainty of  victory  in  the  future  days  of  the  church  upon 
earth,  and  to  the  fulness  of  joy  reserved  for  the  redeemed 
in  the  far  and  fadeless  glory  beyond.  The  deeper  lesson 
of  the  first  four  seals  is  one  of  absolute  trust  in  God  when 
the  way,  as  then,  was  dark  and  the  hearts  of  men  terror- 
stricken.  God  has  not  in  any  sense  forsaken  his  people, 
the  vision  proclaims,  though  his  path  and  purpose  lie 
hidden  in  the  night.  Amid  all  the  trials  of  the  earthly  life 
his  plan  is  working  out  unseen  through  the  way  to  final 
victory.  His  people  must  learn  the  lesson  of  discipline 
in  the  path  by  which  he  leads,  and  strive  to  trust  and  be 
patient  and  obey,  while  he  with  unerring  wisdom  rules 
and  works  and  wins.  The  closing  three  seals  contain  a 
more  direct  revelation  of  hope  and  comfort.  Under  the 
fifth  seal  the  peace  of  the  future  life  and  the  guarantee 
of  recompense  to  the  saints  is  reassured;  the  vision  of 
the  sixth  leads  to  the  episode  of  consolation  which  por- 
trays the  safe  gathering  of  the  redeemed  on  God's  right 
hand  at  last,  w^hile  the  contents  of  the  seal  itself  point  to 
the  surety  and  justice  of  divine  judgment  that  shall  in- 
evitably fall  upon  sin  and  sinners;  and  the  seventh  re- 
veals the  endless  and  unbroken  peace  and  glory  of  the 
future  life  with  God.  Thus,  contrary  to  all  appearances 
in  the  world  of  men,  the  perplexing  trials  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  are  seen  in  the  apocalyptic  vision  to  be  not  in 
vain;  the  painful  discipleship  of  Jesus  has  its  abundant 
reward  hereafter;  the  certain  and  unfailing  victory  of 
the  righteous  lies  at  the  very  heart  of  the  eternal  purpose 
of  God ;  and  this  triumphant  hope  is  presented  as  an  abid- 
ing consolation  for  the  Christian  mind  in  the  midst  of 
prevailing  trial  and  distress. 

lib     The  Episode  of  the  Sealed  Ones  (A  Vision  of  Sal- 
vation Assured)  Ch.  7:1 — 17 

The  episode  of  the  sealed  ones  is  a  vision  of  consola- 
tion, that  is  introduced  as  a  digression  between  the  sixth 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     135 

and  seventh  seals,  elaborating  the  idea  of  redemption  in- 
wrought with  judgment,  and  showing  the  safety,  even  in 
the  midst  of  tribulation,  of  God's  people  who  are  divine- 
ly sealed,  as  also  the  certainty  of  their  final  reward.  It 
is  given  for  the  encouragement  of  tried  and  suffering 
Christians  who  cannot  understand  why  they  suffer,  and 
as  an  answer  to  the  question  in  ch.  6:17,  'who  shall  be 
able  to  stand?'  i.  e.  in  the  midst  of  such  judgment  as  is 
depicted  under  the  sixth  seal.  There  is,  of  course,  a  man- 
ifest element  of  consolation  for  the  saints  in  the  contents 
of  the  seals  themselves,  as  indicated  above,  viz.  the  cer- 
tainty of  victory  under  the  first,  the  divine  limitation 
and  control  signified  in  the  second,  third,  and  fourth,  the 
promise  of  peace  and  reward  in  the  fifth,  of  vindication 
and  judgment  in  the  sixth,  and  of  the  heavenly  rest  in  the 
seventh ;  but  this  word  of  comfort  receives  such  a  distinct 
reinforcement  and  emphasis  in  the  episode  interposed 
as  to  indicate  clearly  its  purpose.  The  blessed  consola- 
tion for  God's  people  in  all  ages  given  in  the  book  of  Rev- 
elation has  not,  perhaps,  been  sufficiently  emphasized  in 
the  past,^  yet  this  has  always  made  it  a  cherished  message 
for  those  in  affliction.  The  episode  is  found  to  consist 
of  two  parts,  corresponding  in  some  degree  to  the  two 
dispensations,  the  Old  and  the  New,  the  first  setting 
forth  the  surety  of  salvation  in  the  divine  choice  out 
of  Israel  (v,  1-8),  and  the  second  the  fulness  of  salvation 
in  the  restoration  to  the  divine  presence  of  the  entire 
body  of  the  redeemed  out  of  all  nations  (v.  9-17),  the  two 
together  manifesting  the  consoling  thought  that  redemp- 
tion triumphs  in  the  midst  of  judgment. 

A     The  Sealed  of  Israel  Ch.  7 :1— 8 

The  first  part  of  the  episode  shows  Israel's  share 
in  the  sure  and  unfailing  results  of  God's  elective  and 
redemptive  purpose,  and  through  this  the  wider  truth 
that  God  seals  and  keeps  all  his  own  (cf.  Ezek.  9:1-6).^ 

1     The  Angels  Holding  the  Winds  Ch.  7 :1 — 3 

At  the  bidding  of  another  angel  who  ascends  from 
the  sunrising  as  the  sign  that  he  brings  light  and  hope, 

^Riddle,   unpublished  Classroom  Lect.  on  Kev. 

2'Three  kinds  of  significance  appear  to  be  attached  to  sealing  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, viz.  (1)  to  authenticate;  (2)  to  assert  ownership;  and  (3)  to  assure 
safety.  The  significance  of  sealing  in  Revelation  seems  to  combine  both  the 
latter  ideas.'  (New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  191).  Possibly  all  senses  of  the  term 
may  be  here  included,  which  gives  a  very  forcible  meaning.  In  Charles'  view 
the  sealing  in  Revelation  is  to  secure  the  servants  of  God  against  the  attacks 
of  demonic  powers,  or  against  the  Antichrist.     See  his  Studies  in  Apoc,  p.  130. 


136     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

and  who  bears  the  seal  of  the  livin,g  God  as  the  token  of 
his  authority,  'the  four  angels  to  whom  it  was  given  to 
hurt  the  earth  and  the  sea'  restrain  the  winds,  which  are 
apparently  those  of  destruction  and  judgment,  until 
the  act  of  sealing  has  been  accomplished :  the  symbol  of 
the  delay  of  God's  final  judgment  upon  the  world  until  all 
his  chosen  ones  are  sealed,  i.  e.  are  marked  as  the  sub- 
jects of  redemption,  or  until  his  redemptive  purpose 
is  complete — the  choice  beginning  with  Israel.  Four, 
the  earth  number,  is  the  number  of  the  angels,  corners, 
and  winds  in  the  vision,  indicating  the  world-wide  char- 
acter of  the  judgment;  and  the  sealing  is  upon  earth, 
though  apparently  not  to  be  thought  of  as  occurring  in 
any  particular  point  of  time,  and  not  therefore  to  be 
placed,  as  by  some,  just  preceding  the  final  judgment, 
for  in  a  wider  sense  the  sealing  stands  as  a  symbol  of 
redemption  as  a  whole,  viewed  in  effect  as  a  process  con- 
current with  the  trials  of  the  seals,  and  illustrated  by  its 
operation  in  Israel.^  The  time  of  holding  back  the  winds 
is  the  entire  period  of  divine  grace,  and  the  sealing 
shows  the  brighter  side  of  the  former  picture  of  trial 
and  suffering — God  is  ever  doing  what  he  did  in  Israel. 

2     The  Number  of  the  Sealed  Ch.  7 :4— 8 

The  redeemed  are  sealed  upon  the  forehead,  the 
sign  of  the  visible  and  personal  ownership  of  Christ,  but 
the  act  of  sealing  is  not  revealed ;  as  the  act  of  God  it  is 
hidden,  and  only  the  number  of  the  sealed  is  given,  a 
hundred  and  forty-four  thousand,  i.  e.  the  square  of 
twelve,  the  national  number,  multiplied  by  a  thousand, 
the  cube  of  ten,  the  number  of  completeness, — ^twelve 
thousand  from  each  tribe,  or  twelve,  the  number  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  multiplied  by  a  thousand,  the  number  of 
heavenly  completeness :  the  sjmibol  of  a  vast,  complete, 
but  indefinite  number  chosen  from  the  people  of  Israel 
and  kept  unto  eternal  life  as  the  first-fruits  unto  God  and 
the  Lamb,  the  true  or  ideal  people  of  Israel,  who  are  in 
a  sense  representative  of  all  the  redeemed.  Other  inter- 
preters, accepting  the  apocalyptic-traditional  view  of 
late  writers,  regard  the  first  section  of  the  episode  (v. 

^The  omission  of  tlie  tribe  of  Dan  in  the  enumeration  of  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel  has  been  accounted  for  in  various  ways  ;  but  most  lilsely  it  occurred  as 
suggested  by  Ewald  by  an  error  of  transcription,  MAN,  (the  abbreviated  form 
of  Manasses)  being  substituted  for  A  AN,  the  correct  reading.  In  favor  of 
this  suggestion  is  the  fact  that  the  correct  order  of  birth  of  the  sons  of  Jacob 
would  thereby  be  followed,  except  that  Joseph  is  placed  before  Reuben  because 
of  the  prominent  place  he  occupies  as  the  ancestor  of  our  Lord.  See  Plummer, 
Pulp.    Com.,    Rev.,    pp.    :^07-S. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     137 

1-8)  as  a  reproduction  in  form  or  substance  from  a  Jew- 
ish apocalypse,  while  the  second  section  (v.  9-17),  where 
there  is  so  manifest  an  expansion  of  the  horizon,  is  the 
Christian  development  of  the  same  idea,  showing  how 
the  older  vision  may  be  understood  in  our  time.^  Such 
views  evidently  have  strong  attraction  for  the  modern 
mind,  but  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  such  a  view 
solves  as  many  difficulties  as  it  creates,  for  it  assumes 
the  existence  of  documents  that  have  no  evidence  on 
which  to  rest  except  the  theory  which  assumes  them. 

B     The  Redeemed  Out  of  All  Nations  Ch.  7 :9— 17 

In  this  section  is  presented  a  view  of  all  the  glori- 
fied in  heaven,  showing  the  world-wide  results  of  redemp- 
tion, and  the  ultimate  felicity  of  the  redeemed,  a  scene 
of  triumph  in  vivid  contrast  with  the  trials  and  suffer- 
ings of  the  church  upon  earth,  and  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  difference  which  Christ  has  brought  about  through 
his  atoning  work.^ 

1     The  Innumerable  Multitude  Ch.  7:9 

With  the  opening  of  the  second  part  of  the  episode 
there  is  a  sudden  expansion  of  the  horizon;  every  bar- 
rier of  race  and  nation  has  disappeared,  and  a  triumphant 
multitude  of  the  saved  from  all  peoples,  a  company  which 
no  man  could  number,  far  surpassing  that  of  Israel,  is 
seen  standing  before  the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb, 
arrayed  in  white  robes,  the  symbol  of  purity,"^  and  having 
palms  in  their  hands,  the  token  of  joy  as  well  as  victory 
(cf.  /  Mace.  13:51),  and  perhaps,  also,  as  a  sign  of  tri- 
umphant homage  to  the  Lamb.  The  use  of  palms  in  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles  may  have  been  foremost  in  thought 
here,  but  we  need  not  confine  the  significance  of  the  figure 
to  the  Jewish  symbolism  of  joy.  It  probably  includes  all 
the  ideas  connected  with  palms  that  were  familiar  to 
the  thought  of  the  time,  without  regard  to  their  origin; 
for  it  is  not  justifiable  to  assume  that  the  Apocalypse 
contains  no  ideas  borrowed  from  heathen  antiquity,  but 
moves  exclusively  within  the  circle  of  sacred,  that  is, 
Jewish  imagery  and  symbols.^   This  represents  an  opin- 

iMoffatt,  Exp.  Gr.  Test.,  vol.  V,  pp.  394-0 ;  Jiilicher,  A"e«-  Test.,  Intr.,  pp. 
287-8  ;  and  Scott,  Kew  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  192. 

2'Perhaps  no  passage  in  the  Apocalypse  has  had  so  wide  an  influence  on 
popular  eschatology.'     Swete,   Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.   98. 

'For  a  like  passage  where  the  sealed  wear  white  garments,  see  //  Esdr.  2 
34-42. 

^As  Trench,   followed  by  Milligan. 


138    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

ion  which  in  the  light  of  later  studies  in  Apocalyptic  can- 
not be  maintained,  though  manifestly  everything  has  been 
assimilated  by  the  Jewish  conception,  from  whatever 
source  it  may  have  been  derived.  The  phase  of  the  vi- 
sion presented  in  the  ninth  verse,  affords  a  view  of  the 
redeemed  church  in  its  fulness,  the  multitude  of  the  saved 
from  both  covenants  now  joined  in  one  body  in  which 
no  distinction  of  race  or  nation  exists,  a  view  much  wid- 
er in  its  scope  than  the  former  one  of  the  sealing.^ 

Many  commentators,  it  must  be  recognized,  view 
this  passage  differently  (v.  4-9),  and  maintain  the  full 
identity  of  the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  and  the 
great  multitude  by  a  somewhat  strained  exegesis,  mak- 
ing the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  the  symbol 
of  the  Christian  church.^  In  the  interpretation  of  such 
symbols,  however,  we  must  always  allow  a  latitude  of 
view,  for  different  interpretations  appeal  with  varying 
force  to  different  minds;  and  it  should  be  remembered 
in  holding  the  view  accepted  in  this  work,  that  while 
the  symbol  is  taken  from  the  case  of  Israel,  and  is  there- 
fore correctly  interpreted  as  applying  primarily  to  the 
people  of  Israel,  yet  it  is  not  Jews  as  distinguished  from 
Gentiles  that  are  meant,  but  the  saints  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  distinguished  from  those  of  the  New,  the  few 
in  contrast  with  the  many ;  and  that  in  a  wider  sense  the 
figure  symbolizes  salvation  as  a  whole,  represented  here 
by  a  part  in  which  it  is  shown  to  be  effective,  the  main 
idea  being  salvation  made  certain  and  efficient  by  the 
divine  act  of  sealing,  while  in  the  great  multitude  the  sym- 
bol is  that  of  salvation  become  world-wide  in  its  results. 
The  question  of  the  identity  of  the  two  groups  is  there- 
fore subordinate,  and  cannot  be  regarded  as  of  any  spe- 
cial importance. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point,  in  view  of  the  great  and 
radiant  multitude  of  the  redeemed,  the  innumerable 
company  out  of  all  nations  and  tribes  and  peoples  and 
tongues,  who  stand  before  the  throne  and  join  in  the  cry 
of  'Salvation  unto  our  God. .  .and  unto  the  Lamb'  (v.  10), 
for  us  to  emphasize  the  wide-spread  and  triumphant 
effect  of  the  gospel  in  the  world  of  men  which  is  here 

^Faussett,  J.  P.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  605  ;  also  Diisterdieck,  Meyer's  Com. 
on  Rev.,  pp.  242-50.  who  aptly  says,  'The  numher  144,000  there  (v.  1-8)  al- 
though not  literal  but  schematic,  furnishes  the  idea  of  numerabilitii,  while 
here  (v.  9)  the  inn  timer  ability  of  the  great  multitude  is  especially  emphasized.' 
2As  Pluramer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.  p.  207,  who  says,  'Hero,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  the 
spiritual   Israel  which   is  signifled.' 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     139 

foreshown.  It  has  been  too  often  asserted  by  modern 
critics  that  the  outlook  of  the  Revelation  is  narrow  and 
Jewish,  and  its  view  limited  and  disconraging.  As 
against  this  it  is  well  to  remember  the  lesson  of  these 
verses,  as  well  as  that  of  many  other  similar  passages 
throughout  the  book  (cf.  chs.  5:9;  21:24;  22:7,  et  al). 
We  should  also  clearly  see  that  the  Revelation  from 
its  nature  and  purpose  deals  chiefly  with  the  plan  of 
God  for  the  ages,  and  with  the  causes  and  events  which 
lead  on  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  that  therefore  its 
essential  message  is  not  addressed  to  evangelistic  effort 
or  to  missionary  enterprise,  but  to  faith  in  God  when 
days  are  dark  and  storms  fill  the  sky,  and  to  preparation 
for  meeting  him  in  a  fairer  world  when  earthly  days 
are  done.  Yet  the  book  just  as  clearly  shows  that  the 
divine  plan  both  includes  and  prepares  for  the  essen- 
tially world-wide  and  universal  mission  of  Christianity; 
and  the  message  of  the  gospel  to  every  creature  is  re- 
peated and  emphasized  throughout  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  plain  that  the  great  work  and  chief  purpose  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  the  earth  is  to  redeem  and  to  save 
the  lost.  And  surely  this  important  truth  should  never 
be  left  out  of  view  in  our  perusal  of  the  book. 

2     The  Cry  of  the  Church  Triumphant  Ch.  7 :10— 12 

The  whole  body  of  the  redeemed,  the  saved  out  of 
both  covenants,  the  united  company  which  no  man  could 
number,  that  includes  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  is  heard 
unitedly  to  cry  with  a  loud  voice,  'Salvation  unto  our 
God. .  .and  unto  the  Lamb',  i.  e.  salvation  is  attributed 
unto  God  and  the  Lamb^  (the  Salvation  Chorus),  while 
all  the  heavenly  court  join  them  in  a  seven-fold  sym- 
phony of  praise.  This  is  the  last  in  a  series  of  growing 
doxologies.  In  ch.  1 :6  the  praise  ascribed  is  twofold,  in 
ch.  4 :11  it  is  threefold,  in  ch.  5  :13  it  is  fourfold,  and  now 
in  ch.  7:12  it  is  sevenfold — 'Blessing,  and  glory,  and 
wisdom,  and  thanksgiving,  and  honor,  and  power,  and 
might,  he  unto  our  God  forever  and  ever'.  It. should 
also  be  noted  that  in  the  Salvation  Chorus,  for  the  first 
of  three  times  in  the  book,  salvation  is  ascribed  by  a 
voice  from  heaven  to  God,  or  to  God  and  to  '  Christ, 
viz.  in  chs.  7:10;  12:10;  and  19  :L 

1' Saved  by  our  God,  who  is  seated  on  the  throne,  and  by  the  Lamb!'  Mof- 
fatt.  New   Trans,  of  Nerc  Test. 


140     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

3     The  Redeemed  Before  the  Throne  Ch.  7 :13— 17 

John's  attention  is  at  this  point  specially  directed 
to  the  triumphant  company  that  is  before  the  throne  of 
God  by  one  of  the  elders  (v.  13f.)^  in  order  to  empha- 
size that  they  of  that  company  have  come  victorious  out 
of  the  great  tribulation  of  the  earthly  life,  and  there- 
fore they  are  ever  before  the  throne  serving  God  day 
and  night  in  his  temple,  i.  e.  in  the  vaog.  the  shrine 
of  the  temple  in  heaven,  and  sharing  in  the  exceed- 
ing blessedness  of  the  divine  presence  as  their  great 
reward.  'And  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  shall  spread 
his  tabernacle  over  them... and  God  shall  wipe  away 
every  tear  from  their  eyes.'^  It  is  not  likely  that  by  the 
great  tribulation  in  v.  14  is  meant  a  special  period  of 
trial  such  as  is  implied  in  ch.  3 :10,  and  by  the  words  of 
our  Lord  in  Mat.  24 :21,  but  rather  the  world-tribulation 
that  belongs  to  the  earthly  life  of  the  Christian  through- 
out all  time,  'the  tribulation  of  Jesus'  (ch.  1:9)  in  which 
John  felt  that  he  had  a  share.  Some,  however,  think 
that  it  is  the  same  period  of  trial  referred  to  before  as 
preceding  the  end  of  the  world.^  Thus  wdth  a  prophetic 
view  of  the  redeemed  before  the  throne  the  episode  closes, 
and  the  seventh  seal  is  opened  (ch.  8:1). 

Ill     The  Vision   of  the   Seven   Trumpets    (A  Vision 
of  Threatening)         Ch.  8:2—9:21,  and  11:14—19 

The  vision  of  the  seven  trumpets  sets  forth  in  pic- 
torial form  a  divine  proclamation  of  the  judgments  of 
God  upon  the  sinful  world,  especially  those  to  be  exper- 
ienced throughout  the  prospective  history  of  mankind 
until  the  final  consummation  of  all  things.  It  consists 
of  another  group  of  seven  that  are  parallel  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  to  the  vision  of  the  seals,  covering  like  them 
the  path  of  the  ages,  but  that  form  a  separate  series  com- 
plete in  themselves  and  that  are  issued  for  a  different 
purpose,  the  seals  specially  manifesting  God's  care  of 
his  people  in  the  midst  of  trial,  while  the  trumpets  re- 
veal the  divine  punishment  visited  upon  the  sinful.  These 
two  lines  of  judgment  are  conceived  of  as  occurring  main- 

^'Where  an  explanation  is  made  of  visions  wliich  refer  to  the  church,  the 
active  part  is  taken  by  the  elders,  while  angels  introduce  visions  of  which  the 
signification  is  unexplained.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   209. 

2'These  verses  (v.  16.  17)  are  full  of  reminiscences  of  the  O.  T.  Perhaps 
there  is  no  passage  in  the  whole  of  literature  that  so  combines  simplicity  of 
language  and  sublimity  of  thought  as  these  two  verses.'  Dean,  Book  of  Revelar 
tion,  p.   119. 

'Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  100;  Scott,  Neic  Cent.  Bii.,  Rev.,  p.  195 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     141 

ly  in  the  same  period,  but  looked  at  from  another  point 
of  view:  or,  perhaps,  it  might  better  be  said,  that  we  have 
here  another  group  of  seven  which  follow  the  whole 
course  of  history  and  develop  a  new  line  of  divinely  or- 
dered occurrences  that  neither  follow  nor  precede,  but 
are  quite  independent  of  any  time-relation  to  the  pre- 
ceding series  of  the  seals.  The  number  of  the  trumpets, 
like  that  of  the  seals,  is  intended  to  indicate  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  series,  for  seven  is  the  number  of  com- 
pleteness. They  are  general  indications  of  God's  judg- 
ments, and  though  particular  events  may  be  partial  ful- 
filments, the  complete  fulfilment  is  in  all  time.^ 

A     The  Preparation  for  the  Trumpets  Ch.  8 :2 — 6 

In  a  short  intervening  section  preparatory  to  the 
trumpets,  we  are  shown  that  the  prayers  of  the  saints 
lead  to  the  manifestation  of  divine  wrath  against  sin. 
These  verses,  it  may  be  said,  form  a  transition  from  the 
vision  of  the  seals  to  that  of  the  trumpets,  and  are  in 
fact  included  by  some  under  the  seventh  seal,  though 
not  properly  belonging  to  it.  The  former  vision  reaches 
a  fitting  close  in  the  period  of  eternal  rest  which  is 
looked  upon  under  the  seventh  seal,  and  we  wait  in  the 
quiet  that  it  brings,  expecting  the  end  to  be  an- 
nounced at  once.  But  instead  of  that  a  further  vision 
is  revealed  to  the  seer,  and  we  again  traverse  the  course 
of  history  by  a  different  path  to  its  ending.  In  another 
series  of  seven  under  the  trumpets  the  punishment  of  the 
un,godly  is  reviewed,  and  divine  wrath  is  seen  to  fall 
upon  the  heads  of  the  sinful.  This  succeeding  series  of 
trumpet  visions  is  introduced  by  verses  two  to  six  in  the 
eighth  chapter. 

1    An  Angel  Offers  Incense  upon  the  Golden  Altar 

Ch.  8:3— 5 

The  incense  is  added  unto  the  prayers  of  all  the 
saints  which  are  thus  typically  purified,  and  they  are 
straightway  presented  before  the  throne  of  God  in 
heaven.  Incense  was  the  symbol  of  prayer  under  the  Old 
Testament,  but  it  becomes  here,  by  a  further  develop- 
ment of  the  symbol,  the  vehicle  for  bearing  the  prayers 
to  the  throne,  and  the  action  apparently  follows  the 
form  of  the  Jewish  ritual  worship.  An  angel  standing 
over  the  brazen  altar  of  sacrifice,  takes  fire  from  it  in 

ipiummer,  Palp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  230. 


142  STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

a  golden  censer  or  fire-pan,  and  much  incense  is  then 
given  him  to  add  unto  the  prayers  of  all  the  saints,  evi- 
dently for  their  purification  and  that  he  may  offer  them 
at  the  golden  altar  of  incense  which  is  before  the  throne 
of  God.  Completing  this  action,  the  angel  returns  again 
to  the  brazen  altar  to  take  fire  from  it  that  he  may  cast  it 
as  the  symbol  of  judgment  upon  the  earth  (cf  Ezek.  10 :2f ) 
Others,  however,  think  that  only  one  altar,  that  of  in- 
cense, is  referred  to  in  the  action.^  In  either  case  the 
worship  of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  basis  of  the  figure, 
though  the  scene  is  laid  in  heaven.  'And  there  followed 
thunders,  and  voices,  and  lightnings,  and  an  earthquake ', 
the  tokens  of  God's  presence  and  of  the  approaching  di- 
vine judgment. 

2     The  Seven  Angels  Prepare  to  Sound         Ch.  8:2,  6 

To  the  seven  angels  are  given  seven  trumpets  with 
charge  of  the  series  of  impending  woes;  and  the  angels 
put  the  trumpets  to  their  lips  ready  to  sound,  mention  of 
which  is  made  in  order  to  emphasize  the  importance  to 
be  attached  to  their  action  as  angels  who  stand  before 
God.  Their  position  implies  special  service,  and  their 
number  doubtless  indicates  the  perfection  of  their  minis- 
try.2  The  trumpet,  which  was  the  common  instrument  for 
public  announcement,  and  often  connected  with  the  idea 
of  judgment,^  may  be  here  intended  to  recall  its  use  at  the 
fall  of  Jericho  (Josh.  6:4f).  The  seven  angels  may  also 
be  taken  to  represent  the  whole  body  of  angel  ministrants 
who  serve  before  God,  just  as  the  seven  churches  symbol- 
ize the  whole  church. 

B     The  Trumpets  Sounded      Ch.  8 :7— 9 :21 ;  and  11 :14— 

19 

The  sounding  of  the  trumpets  represents  the  proc- 
lamation of  signal  and  destructive  judgments  upon  the 
ungodly  world.  The  form  of  these  judgments  in  the 
vision  was  adapted  to  current  conceptions  of  great  ca- 
lamities, and  may  be  regarded  as  symbolizing  all  the 

>For  the  first  view  see  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  238  ;  for  the  second 
view  see  Diisterdieclj,  Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.,  pp.  264-5  ;  also  Lange,  Com.  on 
Rev.,  p.  204. 

-Vaughan,  Led.  on  Rev.,  p.  207  ;  and  Stuart,  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  564,  where 
they  are  described  as  'presence-angels  ;'  also  cf.  Tobit,  12.15,  'I  am  Raphael,  one 
of  the  seven  holy  angels  who  present  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  and  who  go  In 
and  out  before  the  glory  of  the  Holy  One;  and  Bk  o/  Enoch,  91.  21,  'And  the 
Lord  called  those  seven  first  white  ones,  etc'  These  instances  serve  to  show 
how  the  Apocalypse  of  John  reflects  the  current  usage  of  Apocalyptic  literature 
in  his  time. 

sCf.  I  Thess.  4.16;  I  Cor.  15.52;  and  II  Esdr.  6.20,  25. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     143 

terrible  woes  in  store  for  all  the  wicked  in  all  the  ages — 
wide  world-pictures  of  the  divine  purpose  of  punishment. 
The  latter  half  of  the  first  century  was  marked  by  many 
terrible  visitations,  such  as  earthquakes,  famines,  and 
plagues,  and  it  should  not  be  thought  strange  to  find 
these  events  reflected  in  such  a  book  as  the  Apocalypse 
at  a  time  when  they  were  fresh  in  the  public  mind.  That 
they  had  some  such  source  is  evident,  for  the  graphic 
descriptions  of  appalling  disaster  by  earthquake  in  Mar- 
tinique (1901),  and  in  Messina  (1908),  have  served  to 
illumine  many  passages  in  the  Revelation,  as  have  also 
other  similar  occurrences  previously  known.  These 
judgments  in  the  visions  constitute  not  only  the  divine 
means  of  punishment,  but  become  the  divine  test 
of  character,  revealing  the  essential  nature  of  evil 
men;  for  the  effect  of  the  judgTiients,  milike  that  of  the 
seals,  falls  mainly  upon  the  evil. 

1     The  Sounding  of  the  First  Trumpet  Ch.  8 :7 

The  sounding  of  the  first  trumpet  is  followed  by 
hail  and  fire  mingled  in  blood  cast  upon  the  earth:  the 
symbol  of  disaster  visited  upon  the  land,  and  men  pun- 
ished by  such  means  as  in  the  days  of  Pharaoh, — for  fire 
is  a  symbol  of  the  divine  presence  and  wrath,  and  the 
blood  indicates  the  destructive  effects  about  to  be 
wrought  upon  both  the  animate  and  inanimate  creation 
for  the  chastisement  of  man.  The  resemblance  of  the  first 
four  judgments  of  the  trumpets  and  also  of  the  vials  to 
the  plagues  of  Egypt,  is  too  manifest  to  escape  the  atten- 
tion of  any  careful  reader  of  Scripture,  and  affords  a 
ready  proof  of  their  representative  character.  These 
well-known  historic  incidents  of  judgment,  belonging  to 
the  birth-period  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  which  are  so  deep- 
ly inwrought  in  the  Old  Testament  story,  and  whose 
significance  was  so  well  understood,  become  the  ready 
types  of  other  judgments  that  are  sent  wdth  a  similar 
purpose  and  that  belong  to  the  divine  order,  but  the  inti- 
mate nature  of  which  it  was  not  the  divine  purpose  to 
disclose.  They  are  widely  suggestive  of  God's  power 
over  things  the  most  permanent  and  stable.  The  destruc- 
tion of  but  a  third  part  of  the  objects  affected  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  trumpet  series,  represents  a  limited  judg- 
ment, not  an  actual  third  but  a  fractional  portion  de- 
stroyed, a  great  but  not  the  greater  part.  The  earth,  the 
sea,  the  rivers,  and  the  heavenly  bodies,  on  which  the 


144    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

first  four  judgments  fall,  are  parts  of  a  fourfold  divi- 
sion of  the  universe  which  is  common  in  this  book,  and 
are  intended  to  designate  the  entire  created  world,  both 
here  and  in  the  vision  of  the  vials.^  In  this  comprehen- 
sive designation  the  earth,  or  the  land,  was  thought  of 
as  the  nourishing  mother  and  the  dwelling-place  of  man ; 
the  sea  as  the  agent  and  arena  of  commerce;  the  rivers 
as  the  seat  of  cities,  the  centres  of  population,  the  ar- 
teries of  trade,  and  the  source  of  water  supply;  and 
the  heavenly  bodies  as  the  source  of  light,  and  as  the 
rulers  of  destiny — together  representing  in  common 
thought  the  great  things  of  life  to  the  w^orld  of  men. 
Disaster  to  these,  the  sources  of  wealth  and  well-being, 
has  always  been  among  Oriental  nations  the  type  of  all 
that  is  most  terrible. 

2    The  Sounding  of  the  Second  Trumpet  Ch.  8 :8 — 9 

The  sounding  of  the  second  trumpet  is  followed  by, 
as  it  were,  a  great  mountain  burning  with  fire  cast  into 
the  sea,  thereby  working  widespread  ruin:  the  symbol 
of  disaster  visited  upon  the  sea,  one  part  of  creation 
which  is  used  as  God's  agent  for  punishing  mankind. 
To  move  a  mountain  was  a  token  of  divine  power,  and 
it  was  blazing  with  fire  as  a  sign  of  the  divine  presence 
and  wrath — another  Sinai  in  effect  flung  into  the  sea. 
This  striking  figure  of  a  mountain  of  fire  was  perhaps 
suggested  to  John's  mind  by  a  volcano,  with  w^hich  he 
must  have  become  familiar  while  resident  in  Asia;  but 
attention  is  directed  more  particularly  in  these  visions, 
especially  the  first  four,  to  the  eifect  produced  rather 
than  to  the  means  used,  whether  hail  and  fire,  or  a  moun- 
tain, or  a  star,  or  the  smiting  of  the  planets.-  The  effect 
produced  is  one  of  great  terror,  though  the  way  in  w^hich 
it  applies  to  men  is  left  to  be  inferred,  and  is  not  at- 
tempted to  be  described.  Such  an  incident  was  well 
adapted  to  the  thought  of  the  first  century,  and  could 
not  but  strike  terror  in  the  mind  of  the  beholder  because 
of  the  complete  helplessness  of  men  in  the  presence  of 
such  a  disaster.  It  presents  a  wide  field  for  thought,  the 
limits  of  which  are  not  defined.  It  is  in  fact  one  way  of 
saying  that  God  will  make  all  nature  to  strive  against 
man  because  of  sin. 

^Plummer,    Pulp.    Com..    Rev.,    p.    398  ;    also    compare   with    ch.    14.7,    where 
these  terms  are  apparently  used  as  the  sum  of  creation. 
2Cf.  Alford,   Or.   Test.,  vol.  4,   Rev.,  p.  638. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     145 

3  The  Sounding  of  the  Third  Trumpet  Ch.  8 :10— 11 

The  sounding  of  the  third  trumpet  is  folloAved  by 
the  falling  of  a  great  star  from  heaven,  called  Worm- 
wood, upon  the  waters,  burning  as  a  torch  and  making 
them  bitter:  the  symbol  of  disaster  visited  upon  the 
rivers  and  fountains  of  waters,  still  another  part  of  cre- 
ation, as  an  act  of  divine  judgment  upon  sinful  men  who 
dwell  by  the  waters.  As  under  the  former  trumpets  only 
a  third  part  was  affected:  'And  many  men  died  of 
the  waters,  because  they  were  made  bitter.'  The  falling 
of  a  star  was  regarded  as  a  sign  of  some  great  disaster 
about  to  happen,  and  is  here  apparently  intended  to  be 
typical  of  judgment  sent  from  heaven,  while  the  name 
Wormwood  signifies  the  bitterness  of  the  trouble  which 
it  entails  upon  men.  But  beyond  this  all  is  indefinite, 
a  quality  characteristic  of  Apocalyptic  which  often 
heightens  rather  than  lessens  the  general  effect.  The 
bitter  waters  expressed  the  moral  bitterness  that  men 
must  taste  because  of  their  sin:  the  wide  result  is  thus 
covered  by  an  unspoken  appeal  to  thought  through  a 
significant  symbol. 

4  The  Sounding  of  the  Fourth  Trumpet  Ch.  8 :12 

The  sounding  of  the  fourth  trumpet  is  followed  by 
the  smiting  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars:  the  symbol  of 
disaster  visited  upon  the  heavenly  bodies,  not  only  de- 
stroying their  light  but  inflicting  a  punishment  peculiarly 
terrifying  to  the  Oriental  mind  because  of  the  occult 
influence  which  these  bodies  were  supposed  to  exert  up- 
on the  future  destinies  of  men.  We  need  not  necessarily 
regard  John  as  personally  sharing  in  this  opinion,  but 
only  as  using  the  language  and  appealing  to  the  thought 
of  his  time,  as  in  the  preceding  reference  to  the  falling 
star.  He  seems  to  look  upon  these  strange  occurrences 
mainly  as  signs  of  the  divine  purpose,  as  'wonders  in  the 
heavens  and  in  the  earth'  (Joel  2:30)  through  which  God 
w^rought  in  manifesting  his  will.  The  evils  resulting 
from  this  visitation  in  the  vision,  as  in  the  former  judg- 
ments, are  suggested  rather  than  named;  but  they  lie 
before  the  mind  in  a  haunting  way  to  be  filled  in  by  a 
vivid  imagination  Avith  scenes  of  terror  and  wrath. 

(1)  The  Eagle  and  Its  Message  Ch.  8 :13 

At  this  point  an  eagle  (not  an  angel,  as  in  the  Au- 
thorized Version),  the  symbol  of  carnage,  appears  fly- 


146    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION. 

ing  high  in  mid-heaven,  crying,  'Woe!  Woe!  Woe!'  and 
indicating  by  its  rapid  flight  and  thrice  repeated  call 
of  terror  the  swiftness  of  the  three  coming  woes  of  the 
remaining  trumpets.^  Also  three,  the  number  of  the  spir- 
itual in  contrast  with  the  material,  serves  to  indicate 
the  sphere  to  which  these  judgments  belong.  These 
three,  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh,  are  often  called  the 
'woe-trumpets',  and  their  effects  are  visited  directly  up- 
on men,  not  indirectly  through  natural  objects  as  under 
the  preceding  four  of  the  series. 

5     The  Sounding  of  the  Fifth  Trumpet  Ch.  9 :1— 12 

The  sounding  of  the  fifth  trumpet  is  followed  by  a 
vision  of  a  star  from  heaven,  fallen  unto  earth,  the  sym- 
bolic representation  of  Satan  cast  out  of  heaven  for  his 
sin,  and  by  smoke  as  of  a  great  furnace  enveloping  a 
swarm  of  locusts  that  ascend  from  the  pit  of  the  abyss, 
the  present  dwelling-place  of  Satan  and  the  familiar 
haunt  of  demons :  the  symbol  of  disaster  to  men  through 
Satan  and  his  multitudinous  host,  'the  spiritual  hosts 
of  wickedness'  (Eph.  6:12),  the  demons  from  the  pit. 
These  are  permitted  to  torment  men,  producing  bitter 
anguish  for  five  months,  the  usual  life  of  the  locust,  and 
the  symbol  of  an  incomplete  or  limited  period  of  time, 
which  may  here  refer  to  the  time  of  man's  existence  up- 
on the  earth.  Five,  the  half  of  ten  the  complete  num- 
ber, is  a  symbol  of  incompleteness  or  indefiniteness.  The 
invading  army  of  locusts  is  a  well-known  figure  of  wide- 
spread disaster,  as  in  the  prophecy  of  Joel  (ch.  2:1-11). 
In  accordance  with  general  apocalyptic  usage  the  pit 
of  the  abyss  is  regarded  as  the  present  abode  of  the 
Devil  and  his  an,gels,  and  is  conceived  of  as  a  vast  sub- 
terranean depth  connecting  with  the  surface  of  the  earth 
by  a  great  shaft  or  well  which  can  be  opened  or  closed 
from  above,  and  the  entrance  to  which  may  be  locked 
or  unlocked  by  a  key.^  That  which  at  tirst  seems  to 
be  a  cloud  of  smoke  proves  to  be  teeming  with  forms 
of  life,  an  evident  token  of  the  hidden  nature  of  the 
source  of  evil.  The  power  of  the  locusts  is  directed  im- 
mediately against  the  wicked,  such  men  as  have  not  the 
seal  of  God  on  their  foreheads,  while  their  sting  seems 
to  be  the  type  of  the  poison  of  sin  which  they  infuse  into 

iCf.  Hos.  8.1  ;  Hab.  1.8  ;  and  Apoc.  of  Bar.  77.19-22. 

2Cf.    eh.    20.1-2;   also   see   arts.    'Abyss',    and    'Pit',    Hastings'    Diet,   of   Bib.; 
and  Bk  of  Enoch,  21.10  ;  and  18.11. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    147 

the  veins  of  men,  and  the  torment  which  they  inflict  to  re- 
fer to  the  visitation  of  sins  that  bring  terrible  punish- 
ment upon  the  offenders  so  that  men  prefer  death  rath- 
er than  life.  The  description  of  the  locusts  as  'like 
unto  horses  prepared  for  war  etc.',  is  a  realistic  touch 
intended  to  heighten  the  sense  of  terror,  but  not  to 
identify  them  with  any  objects  in  human  experience.  Al- 
so the  statement  that  'their  faces  were  as  men's  faces', 
implies  only  that  they  were  like  men  in  appearance, 
though  some  think  this  points  to  human  agents.  The  star 
is  here  used  in  a  quite  different  sense  from  that  under  the 
third  trumpet, — for  to  insist  that  all  objects  must  have 
a  single  symbolism,  and  that  the  star  must  mean  the 
same  in  every  case,  i.  e.  a  person,  there  as  well  as  here, 
is  to  neglect  one  of  the  clearest  lessons  of  Apocalyp- 
tic. Here  it  is  a  personification  or  symbol  of  Satan  (Isa. 
14:12),  the  angel  of  the  abyss,  who  is  named  Apoll- 
yon,^  i.  e.  one  who  causes  perdition  to  mankind,  or  in 
Hebrew,  Abaddon,  i.  e.  the  destroyer,  a  sufficient  identi- 
fication for  the  reader  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  aw- 
ful woe  that  the  world  of  evil  men  suffers  at  the  hands 
of  Satan  and  his  legions  is  the  ideal  content  of  this 
trumpet;  and  we  notice  that  the  severity  of  the  judg- 
ments seems  to  increase  as  they  progress  toward  the 
end.  The  first  woe  is  now  declared  to  be  past  (v.  12), 
but  two  others  are  foretold  as  yet  to  come. 

6     The  Sounding  of  the  Sixth  Trumpet  Ch.  9 :13— 21,  and 

11:14 

The  sounding  of  the  sixth  trumpet  is  followed  by 
the  loosing  of  four  angels  from  the  bed  of  the  Euphrates 
(which  is  done  at  the  bidding  of  a  voice  from  the  four 
horns^  of  the  golden  altar  of  incense  that  is  before  God, 
and  underneath  which  are  the  souls  of  them  that  had 
been  slain  for  the  Word  of  God — evidently  a  divine  com- 
mand) who  had  been  prepared  for  an  appointed  time, 
even  'for  the  hour  and  day  and  month  and  year,  that 
they  should  kill  the  third  part  of  men'  from  the  earth, 
and  by  the  coming  of  a  vast  invading  army  of  horsemen, 
the  double  square  of  a  myriad,  or  two  hundred  millions 

iSome  find  in  this  name  a  reference  to  Apollo,  the  pagan  deity,  and  point 
out  that  the  locust  was  one  of  the  symbols  of  his  cult,  certainly  a  curious  coin- 
cidence, but  apparently  not  anything  more  than  a  coincidence.  See  New  Cent. 
Bib.,   Rev.,  p.   208. 

='The  balance  of  authority  seems  in  favor  of  retaining  rtaadpuv  'four,' 
although  the  Revisers  omit  it.  The  altar  of  incense  had  four  horns  projecting 
at   the   corners.'   Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,   Rev.,   p.   265. 


148    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

in  all,  the  largest  immber  used  in  the  Apocalypse,  the 
type  of  an  innumerable  multitude,  which  apparently 
act  under  direction  of  the  four  angels,  and  destroy  a 
third  part  of  men  from  the  earth  :^  the  symbol  of  disaster 
to  men  through  the  world-forces  of  heathenism,  which  are 
under  direction  of  the  world-rulers  of  the  darkness  (Eph. 
6:12).  The  unbinding  of  the  angels  is  the  symbol  of 
evil  let  loose  among  men,  for  the  angels  are  evil  as  is 
indicated  by  their  being  bound,  by  their  number,  and  by 
the  place  of  their  imprisonment,  i.  e.  the  binding  is  the 
symbol  of  divine  restraint  until  the  appointed  time ;  their 
number  is  four,  the  earth  number,  indicating  that  they 
belong  to  this  world  w^hich  is  usually  thought  of  as  evil ; 
and  the  Euphrates,  the  place  where  they  are  bound,  is 
the  old  seat  of  the  world-power,  and  the  representative 
of  heathenism  with  its  multitudinous  host.  The  evils  in- 
flicted by  the  heathen  nations  upon  mankind,  especial- 
ly the  evils  of  war  with  their  concomitant  results,  are  here 
indicated  by  this  forceful  figure ;  yet  these,  though  deep 
and  terrible,  entirely  fail  to  turn  the  rest  of  men,  who 
escape  death,  from  idol  worship  and  its  attendant  im- 
purities^— a  marvelous  forecast  of  the  path  of  history, 
for  the  heathen  powers  have  time  and  again  become  the 
agents  of  woe  to  mankind,  yet  the  people  have  not  awak- 
ened to  the  true  source  of  their  sorrow  in  idolatry.  The 
description  of  the  horses  and  of  their  riders  in  the  vi- 
sion is  purely  an  ideal  one,  intended  to  make  them  the 
objects  of  greatest  terror,  a  true  Oriental  touch,  appeal- 
ing to  the  vivid  Eastern  imagination  as  such  figures  do 
with  us  to  the  minds  of  children.  The  woes  of  men  at 
the  hands  of  heathen  nations  is  the  evident  content  of 
this  trumpet,  as  is  clearly  indicated  in  the  twentieth 
verse  of  the  chapter.  At  this  point  the  second  w^oe  is 
declared  to  be  past,  and  the  third  to  be  about  to  come 
quickl}^  (ch.  11:14);  but  between  them  intervenes  a  vi- 
sion of  divine  help,  and  of  the  value  of  the  church's 
witness  (ch.  10:1-11:13). 

This  view  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  trumpets  seems  to 
meet  more  fully  the  statements  of  the  text  than  other 
views,  and  to  conform  best  to  the  general  character  of  the 

^Light  is  thrown  upon  these  perplexing  figures  by  a  passage  in  the  Apoc- 
alypse of  Ezra  quoted  by  Bousset :  'And  a  voice  was  heard  :  let  these  four  kings 
be  loosed  which  are  bound  beside  the  great  river  Euphrates,  which  shall  de- 
stroy a  third  part  of  mankind.  And  they  were  loosed,  and  there  was  a  great 
commotion.'  Also  in  the  Bk  of  Enoch  (56.5),  'The  angels  gather  themselves 
together,  and  turn  eastward  to  the  Parthians  and  Medes,  and  stir  up  their 
kings,'  as  the  four  angels  do  here.  John's  conception  is  thus  seen  to  be  a  re- 
flection of  existing  apocalyptic  material.     See  New  Cent.  Bih.,  Rev.,  p.  208. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     149 

whole  series;  for  notwithstanding  the  recognized  ob- 
scurity of  the  trumpet  visions,  we  can  surely  discern 
divine  judgments  for  wrongdoing  in  the  first  four,  un- 
der forms  of  physical  evil  visited  upon  the  natural  cre- 
ation, and  in  the  remaining  three,  manifestations  of 
moral  evil  visited  upon  men  for  their  sin.  That  the  pit 
or  abyss  points  to  demoniacal  forces,  and  the  Euphrates 
to  human  agencies,  is  sufficiently  evident  without  dis- 
cussion.^ The  application  of  the  incidents  of  the  fifth 
and  sixth  trumpets  to  Mohammedans  and  Turks  by  some 
of  the  historical  school,  who  have  even  interpreted  the 
tails  of  the  horses  as  a  prophetic  reference  to  these 
well-known  symbols  of  authority  used  by  Turkish  Pashas, 
is  a  curious  example  of  capricious  fancy.  The  fact  that 
the  events  predicted  under  the  sixth  trumpet  find  a  wide 
exemplification  in  the  incursions  of  Turk  and  Moham- 
medan, Goth  and  Vandal,  is  only  a  clearer  proof  of  their 
ideal  character.  And  it  is  surely  better  to  leave  these 
highly  wrought  imaginative  symbols  of  the  trumpets, 
with  their  deep  suggestiveness  of  appalling  forms  of  com- 
ing evil,  in  the  vague  indefiniteness  in  which  we  find 
them,  rather  than  to  mar  their  beauty  by  weak  and 
narrow  interpretations. 

[The  Episode  Illb,  which  in  this  work  is  given  af- 
ter the  seventh  trumpet,  occurs  at  the  present  point  in 
the  vision  covering  chs.  10 :1  to  11 :13.  The  connection 
is  resumed  in  ch.  11 :14,  for  the  second  woe  found  in  that 
verse  belongs  in  order  of  thought  at  the  close  of  the 
sixth  trumpet,  the  intervening  part  being  parenthetical — 
see  the  Scripture  text  as  paragraphed  in  this  volume]. 

7     The  Sounding  of  the  Seventh  Trumpet  Ch.  11 :15 — 19 

The  sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet  is  followed 
by  great  voices  in  heaven,  declaring  that  the  kingdom 
of  the  world  is  now  become  tJie  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
and  of  his  Christ;^  by  the  elders  praising  God  that 
the  time  of  judgment  and  reward  has  come  (the  Victory 
Chorus) ;  by  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  token  of  God's 
abiding  presence,  being  revealed  in  the  opened  temple 
in  heaven — a  traditional  sign  in  the  later  Judaism  of 

^See   Bihle   Com.,    Rev.,   p.    617. 

='The  master  thought  of  the  whole  Revelation.'  Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib., 
Rev.,  Intr.  p.  xxvi.  'The  realization  of  the  kingdom  of  God.... is  the  end  in  the 
light  of  which  God's  purpose  in  Christ  is  to  be  read.'  Orr,  art.  'Kingdom  of 
God',    Hastings'   Diet,  of  Bib. 


150     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

the  coming  of  the  Messiah  ;^  and  by  lightnings,  voices, 
thunders,  and  an  earthquake  with  great  hail,  the  neces- 
sary accompaniments  in  Jewish  thought  of  the  great  and 
final  day  of  wrath :  the  multiple  symbol  of  the  final  judg- 
ment, and  of  the  glorious  triumph  of  Grod's  kingdom. 
The  contents  of  the  seventh  trumpet  are  not  fully  de- 
veloped, perhaps  because  they  are  too  great  for  descrip- 
tion, but  in  it  we  reach  the  climax  and  issue  of  the  whole 
process  of  judgment  that  is  exhibited  in  the  series,  the 
full  and  final  establishment  of  the  kingdom.  The  result 
is  viewed  in  its  entirety,  and  the  millennial  period  of  vic- 
tory is  not  brought  separately  into  view.  The  unveiling 
of  the  ark  of  covenant  mercy  and  the  ushering  in  of  the 
kingdom  close  the  vision,  and  constitute  an  informal 
transition  to  the  vision  of  conflict  through  which  the 
triumph  has  been  effected. 

If  we  now  rapidly  recall  the  whole  course  of  the  sev- 
en trumpets,  we  can  see  how  with  progressive  move- 
ment they  increase  in  severity  as  they  go  forward;  the 
judgments  they  prefigure  fall  first  upon  the  land,  and 
then  consecutively  upon  the  sea,  upon  the  fountains  of 
water,  and  upon  the  heavenly  bodies,  as  signs  of  God's 
judgment  upon  the  physical  universe,  and  thus  upon  men 
who  in  their  earthly  lives  form  part  of  the  natural  world ; 
then  with  the  fifth  trumpet  the  judgments  take  a  wid- 
er trend,  and  point  to  and  include  the  setting  free  of 
numberless  demonic  forces  of  evil  from  the  pit  of  the 
abyss  to  prey  upon  men,  and  under  the  sixth  trumpet 
the  loosing  of  the  multitudinous  world-forces  of  hea- 
thenism from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  to  bring  world- 
wide judgments  upon  the  race,  thus  preparing  the  way 
for  the  blowing  of  the  seventh  trumpet  which  ushers  in 
the  day  of  cumulative  wrath  upon  sin,  and  the  final  tri- 
umph of  God's  kingdom.  This  onward  progress  of  the 
plan  of  the  ages  is  only  broken  by  a  passing  view  of 
the  possibility  of  recovery  for  men  in  the  episode  of 
the  angel  and  the  book,  and  of  the  two  witnesses,  which 
follows.  The  whole  sweep  of  the  judgments  of  the  trum- 
pets, in  the  view  of  Apocalyptic  perspective,  is  toward 
the  end  of  the  present  world  and  the  triumph  of  right- 
eousness in  the  final  judgment.  There  the  redeemed  are 
left  with  God  in  his  glorious  kingdom;  the  after  life 
is  not  attempted  to  be  described;  its  blessings  are  evi- 

^Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  226;  also  cf.  //  Mace,  2.1-8  ;  and  Avoc.  Bar., 
6.7-10. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     151 

dently  too  great  for  our  present  comprehension.  But  the 
triumph  would  not  be  so  definite,  without  the  vision  of 
conflict  which  follows,  for  it  presents  the  path  to  victory 
through  prevailing  trial  and  opposition  as  ever  leading  on 
to  complete  and  final  triumph  in  the  end,  that  is  to  be  real- 
ized in  the  glorious  presence  of  the  Lamb  who  is  revealed 
as  standing  upon  Mount  Zion  in  the  midst  of  the  re- 
deemed. 

Illb     The  Episode  of  the  Angel  with  the  Book  ;  and  of 
THE  Two  Witnesses  (A  Vision  of  Divine  Help) 

Ch.  10:1—11:13 

This  twofold  vision  forms  a  digression  between  the 
sixth  and  seventh  trumpets,  similar  to  the  episode  be- 
tween the  sixth  and  seventh  seals,  setting  forth  the  op- 
portunities which  God  has  afforded  men  of  escaping 
his  wrath,  showing  the  divine  method  of  help  through 
the  institutions  of  religion,  and  affirming  the  permanent 
value  of  the  church's  witness, — a  paragraph  that  not- 
withstanding its  acknowledged  difficulty,  is  manifest- 
ly interposed  for  the  comfort  of  the  church  as  well  as 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  last  woe  of  the  remaining 
trumpet.^  The  restraint  of  wrath  indicated  by  the  de- 
struction of  only  the  third  part  under  the  trumpets,  is 
now  further  developed  by  showir^g  the  divine  offer  of 
escape;  and  also  man's  common  neglect  of  that  offer, 
which  leads  at  length  to  final  doom  under  the  seventh 
trumpet.  The  episode,  it  will  be  seen,  differs  in  theme 
from  the  one  under  the  seals,  the  former  setting  forth 
the  divine  side  of  redemption,  and  the  surety  of  its  ac- 
complishment through  the  act  of  sealing,  the  latter  show- 
ing the  human  side  of  redemption  as  it  is  made  known 
to  men  through  the  institutions  of  religion,  and  the 
failure  of  its  universal  operation  through  unbelief,  leav- 
ing the  world  without  excuse  to  bear  the  weight  of  judg- 
ment— the  one  throwing  light  upon  God's  relation  to 
the  church,  and  the  other  upon  his  relation  to  the  world, 
in  accordance  mth  the  general  theme  of  the  seals  and 
the  trumpets.  Though  many  are  unable  to  agree  that 
John  had  such  a  comprehensive  view  in  mind,  or  that 
it  is  to  be  looked  for  in  a  writing  of  this  class,  yet  when 
we  consider  the  various  marks  of  elaborate  structure  in 

I'The  episodes  are  interposed  to  give  us  an  insight  into  the  inner  aspects 
of  the  life  of  the  church  in  the  midst  of  persecution  and  distress.'  Ballentine, 
Mod.   Am.    Bii.,    Rev.,    p.    275. 


152    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

the  book,  exhibited  in  the  relation  of  its  different  parts, 
and  the  deep  prophetic  insight  and  poetic  intuition  man- 
ifested by  the  author  in  his  idealization  of  the  course 
of  the  church,  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  a  broad 
and  perspicuous  view  of  redemption  such  as  this,  espe- 
cially since  the  plan  of  salvation  had  already  been  so 
fully  elaborated  in  an  earlier  period  by  the  great  Apos- 
tle to  the  Gentiles. 

A    The  Angel  with  the  Little  Open  Book       Ch.  10 :1— 11 

The  first  part  of  the  episode  exhibits  the  revelation 
of  God's  will  and  purpose  as  a  source  of  help.  The  little 
book  in  the  vision  is  evidently  the  Apocalypse,  though 
in  a  broader  sense  it  doubtless  represents  as  well  the 
general  purpose  and  beneficent  effects  of  all  God's  rev- 
elations to  men;  and  the  book  is  found  open  to  indicate 
that  its  contents  are  made  knowoi  to  the  world.  Some 
regard  the  little  book  to  be  the  remaining  part  of  the 
Apocalypse,  begimiing  with  the  succeeding  chapter;^  by 
others  its  contents  are  considered  to  begin  with  chapter 
twelve,  the  first  break  in  continuity  after  the  episode; 
but  it  seems  more  likely  that  the  whole  book  is  intended. 
In  any  case  it  is  clear  that  the  prophetic  form  in  which 
the  writer's  ministry  is  to  be  realized  (viz.  'thou  must 
prophesy  again  over  many  peoples  and  nations  and 
tongues  and  kings',  v.  11)  serves  to  link  the  center  of 
the  book  (ch.  10:11)  with  both  the  beginning  (ch.  1:3) 
and  the  end  (ch.  22:19),^  and  thereby  furnishes  an  in- 
cidental proof  of  its  unity  of  design. 

1     The  Angel  Foretells  the  End  Ch.  10:1—7 

A  mighty  angel,  the  representative  of  Christ  and 
bearing  his  insignia,^  having  a  book  in  his  hand,  and 
standing  both  upon  sea  and  land  as  a  sign  of  his  world- 
wide mission,  declares  the  coming  end  under  the  seventh 
trumpet,  when  the  mystery  of  God's  method  and  pur- 
pose in  human  life  and  redemption  shall  be  fully  re- 
vealed and  finally  manifested  in  the  establishment  of  his 
universal  kingdom.  The  manner  of  the  angel  is  scenic 
and  impressive,  and  the  message  is  one  of  undoubted 
power. 

^Cf.   Plummer  and  Alford. 

^Neio  Cent.   Bib.,  Rev.,   p.   216. 

'Some,  as  Milligan,  take  this  angel  for  Christ  himself ;  but  'throughout  the 
book  angels  are  everywhere  distinct  from  the  divine  persons',  (Alford,  Or,  Test., 
vol.  iv,  p.  649) — a  general  rule  that  is  never  deviated  from  and  should  not  be 
forgotten.  'In  no  passage  of  the  book  is  our  Lord  represented  under  the  form 
of  an  angel',    (Plummer,   Pvlp.   Com.,  Rev.,   p.    231). 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    153 

(1)     The  Thunder  Voices  Ch.  10:3b  and  4 

Seven  thunders  utter  their  voices^  in  token  of  the 
approaching  judgment,  but  John  is  directed  by  a  voice 
from  heaven  to  seal  them  up  and  is  forbidden  to  record 
them,  probably  indicating  that  the  terrors  of  God's  voice 
in  judgment  are  for  the  present  hidden  from  men; 
though  some  regard  the  voices  as  introduced  only  to 
emphasize  the  element  of  mystery  with  which  the  Apoc- 
alyptic form  always  delighted  to  clothe  its  thought.  The 
voice,  declared  to  be  from  heaven  in  verse  four,  is  appar- 
ently not  intended  to  indicate  by  whom  the  words  were 
spoken,  but  only  the  source  from  which  they  came ;  some, 
however,  attribute  them  to  Christ. 

2     The  Book  Delivered  to  John  Ch.  10:8—11 

The  book  is  Christ's  revelation  to  John  in  the  Apoc- 
alypse, a  little  open  book  or  scroll  (v.  2),  evidently  set 
in  contrast  with  the  great  sealed  book  of  God's  pur- 
poses in  chapter  five;  and  it  is  taken  by  the  Apostle, 
in  obedience  to  a  voice  out  of  heaven,  from  the  hand 
of  the  angel,  who  commands  him  to  eat  it,  thereby  in- 
dicating that  John  should  digest  the  prophecy  therein 
contained  (Ezek.  3:1-3).^  Though  it  was  sweet  to  his 
taste  at  first  as  a  message  from  Christ,  it  became  bit- 
ter afterward  when  its  deeper  meaning  was  understood, 
for  it  told  of  long  continued  trial  and  conflict  instead 
of  speedy  triumph  and  victory.  The  prophecy  is  de- 
clared to  be  'over  [i.  e.  concerning]  many  peoples  and 
nations  and  tongues  and  kings',  a  fourfold  prediction, 
showing  its  world-wide  application  and  indicating  its 
ideal  content. 

It  was  the  common  thought  of  the  early  church  that 
the  period  of  the  Christian  dispensation  would  be  very 
brief;  and  it  may  have  been  in  order  to  dispel  in  some 
measure  this  illusion,  and  at  the  same  time  to  incul- 
cate patience  and  hope  by  showing  the  ideal  shortness 
of  the  Christian  age  in  God's  eternal  plan,  that  we  are 
to  find  one  of  the  many  purposes  of  the  Apocalypse. 
For  it  should  be  noted  that  by  the  end  of  the  first  cen- 
tury the  view-point  on  this   subject  shows  a  material 

I'The  Jews  were  accustomed  to  call  thunder  the  seven  voices,  and  to  re- 
gard It  as  the  voice  of  the  Lord.'  Piummer,  Fulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  274  ;  also  cf. 
Ps.   29.3£  ;   77.18  ;    and    104.7. 

^Humphries,  accepting  the  modern  composite  view,  says,  'The  eating  of  the 
little  book  recounted  in  ch  x.  10  suggests  tliat  borrowing  from  a  previous  source 
is  to  be  looked  for  in  what  immediately  follows.'  St  John  and  Other  New  Test. 
Teachers,  p.  96. 


154    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

change.  The  attitude  of  John's  Gospel  toward  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  is  manifestly  different  from  that  of 
the  Synoptists;^  the  significant  predictions  of  Christ 
concerning  his  own  return  are  omitted,  notably  the  dis- 
course on  the  last  things  (Mt.  24;  Mk.  13;  Lk.  21) ;  and 
the  only  references  to  his  coming  again  are  indirect  ( Jn. 
14:3,  18,  28;  16:22;  and  22:22-3),  though  from  these  it  is 
evident  that  it  is  subsumed  throughout,  a  view  that  is 
confirmed  by  the  Epistles  (I  Jn.  2:28;  and  3:2).  This 
is  far  from  showin,g,  as  some  hold,  that  the  coming  pre- 
dicted was  only  figurative,  and  was  fulfilled  at  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  an  event  already  past  w^hen 
John's  Gospel  was  written;  but  seems  rather  to  indi- 
cate that  the  earlier  stage  of  thought,  shared  in  by  all 
the  apostles,  which  expected  the  Lord's  return  within 
the  first  generation,  had  given  way  to  a  new  and  wider 
outlook  which  emphasized  the  continuous  coming  that 
is  present  and  spiritual  more  than  the  personal  coming 
that  is  future  and  outward,  though  without  losing  faith  in 
the  surety  of  that  coming.  And  even  if  the  later  date  of 
the  Apocalypse  be  not  conceded,  yet  coming  from  the 
same  source  as  the  Fourth  Gospel,  we  might  not  unnatur- 
ally expect  to  find  in  it  some  anticipation  of  this  view 
involving  delay,  for  the  coming  thought  of  in  the 
visions  is  undoubtedly  personal  and  future. 

B     The  Two  Witnesses  Ch.  11 :1— 13 

The  second  part  of  the  episode  sets  forth  the  in- 
destructibility and  permanent  value  of  the  two  special 
divine  institutions  for  human  help,  viz.  revealed  religion 
and  the  church ;  and  shows  the  triumph  of  enduring  wit- 
ness for  the  truth. 

1    The  Measurement  of  the  Temple  Ch.  11 :1 — 2 

The  vao?,  or  inner  sanctuary  of  the  temple  of 
God,  is  at  this  point  introduced  in  the  vision,  a  term 
which  applied  to  the  apartments  of  the  temple  building 
proper,  including  the  holy  of  holies,  the  holy  place,  and 
in  this  case  by  implication  the  inner  court,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  leQov  which  applied  to  the  whole  tem- 
ple and  included  all  the  buildings  with  the  outer  courts. 
The  vaoc;  in  classical  Greek  is  the  sanctuary  or  cell 
of  a  temple  where  the  image  of  the  god  was  placed.  In 

^See  commentaries  of  Westcott,  Reynolds,  and  others  on  the  Gospel  of  John. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.     155 

Hebrew  usage,  as  applied  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem, 
it  signifies  the  sacred  edifice  so  called,  including  the  holy 
and  most  holy  place. ^  Thus  it  is  the  true  temple  with  the 
altar  and  them  that  worship  therein,  i.  e.  the  entire  con- 
tents of  the  inner  court,  the  combined  symbol  of  revealed 
religion  and  of  those  who  accept  its  truths,  especially 
the  revelation  and  worshippers  according  to  the  Old 
Testament,  which  is  here  introduced  in  the  vision.  This 
is  directed  to  be  measured,  i.  e.  it  is  to  be  subjected  to 
careful  scrutiny,  and  its  proportions  are  to  be  observed, 
the  sign  as  in  Zechariah  (ch.  2:lf.)  of  preservation  and 
renewal,  and  not  of  destruction.  The  measurement  ap- 
parently applies  to  the  heavenly  temple,  though  it  may 
be  interpreted  either  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  or  its 
counterpart  in  heaven,  for  to  the  Jewish  mind  the  earthly 
temple  was  the  type  and  shadow  of  the  heavenly  (Heb. 
9 :5 )  .^  In  either  case  the  meaning  is  the  same,  viz.  on- 
ly that  which  corresponds  to  the  outer  court  of  the  earth- 
ly,^ the  unessential  portion,  is  given  up  by  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem  to  be  trodden  underfoot  of  the  nations  (Lk. 
21:24)  during  forty-two  months  (v.  2),  the  indefinite 
period  of  the  world's  conflict  with  the  church  (see  App'x. 
E).  The  true  temple  with  its  worshippers,  the  heart 
and  center  of  the  religious  life  of  Israel,  is  indestruc- 
tible and  reappears  in  heaven  with  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant restored  (v.  19).  This  is  a  symbolic  expression  of 
the  important  truth  that  the  revealed  religion  of  Israel 
is  to  endure,  the  best  in  Judaism  is  imperishable,  all 
that  is  fundamental  and  essential  is  preserved  though 
the  outer  form  be  destroyed;^  and  it  was  designed  to  be 

^See  Thayer's  Lex.  Neio  Test.  Oreek  for  the  distinction  between  the  use  of 
vabc  and  lepbv;  also  art.  'Temple',  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bit).,  at  the  beginning.  The 
word  lepbv,  it  will  be  noticed,  is  never  used  in  the  Apocalypse. 

^Plummer  thinks  that  the  heavenly  temple  is  indicated,  because  'nowhere  else 
in  the  book  do  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  signify  the  earthly  places', — a  view  that 
deserves  weighty  consideration. 

''The  outer  court  of  the  temple  was  the  addition  of  Herod.... The  Gentiles 
might  come  there,  though  they  might  not  pass  into  what  was  especially  the 
temple,  and  which  was  sacred  to  Israelites  only.  And  so  it  represents  here  all 
those  outer-court  worshippers,  those  mixed  multitudes  which  are  found  asso- 
ciated with  God's  true  people  everywhere — of  them,  but  not  truly  belonging  to 
them.'  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  pp.  300-01. 

^Stuart,  Com.  on  Apoc.,  p.  590 ;  and  Lange,  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  223,  who 
somewhat  differently  regards  this  as  a  picture  of  'the  inner  and  outer  church', 
a  thought  that  may  perhaps  be  included  ;  also  see  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev., 
p.  288,  who  says,  'The  temple  Is  here  used  figuratively  of  the  faithful  portion 
of  the  church  of  Christ...  .placed  in  antithesis  to  the  outer  court,  the  faithless 
portion  of  the  visible  church,  which  is  given  over  to  the  Gentiles — the  type  of 
all  that  is  worldly.'  Scott,  Par.  Ver.  of  Rev.,  p.  33  says,  'The  inner  shrine 
alone  of  the  house  of  God  is  truly  his,  and  abides  forever' ;  and  Ballentine,  Mod. 
Am.  Bib.,  following  Bp.  Carpenter,  says,  'As  Jerusalem  and  Babylon.  ..  .so  here 
the  Temple  and  the  court  of  the  Temple  are  symbols.  The  gospel  has  elevated 
the  history  and  places  of  the  past  into  a  grand  allegory.  It  has  breathed  into 
their  dead  names  the  life  of  an  ever-present  symbolism.' 


156     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION. 

a  vision  of  comfort  for  the  Jewish  Christians,  who 
naturally  regarded  the  ruin  of  the  temple  as  a  profound 
calamity.  The  vision  has  been  regarded  by  many  inter- 
preters as  indicating  that  the  temple  and  the  city  of 
Jerusalem  were  still  standing  when  this  was  written, 
thus  confirming  the  earlier  date  of  the  Revelation  (circ. 
A.  D.  69) ;  but  the  weight  of  evidence  to  be  attached  to 
an  Apocalyptic  vision  as  testimony  in  such  a  case  is 
very  small,  and  is  quite  insufficient  when  compared  with 
other  evidences  of  the  historical  situation  found  in  the 
book.^  It  is  evident,  also,  that  there  is  a  reference  in 
the  symbolism  here  used,  i.  e.  in  the  preservation  not 
only  of  the  altar,  but  'of  them  that  worship  therein',  to 
the  preservation  of  the  Jews  as  a  people,  and  their  fu- 
ture restoration  when  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be 
fulfilled  (Lu.  21:24),  though  not  necessarily  to  Pales- 
tine,2  and  surely  not  to  a  rebuilded  temple,  which  in  any 
case  would  be  mere  incidents,  but  to  the  richer  blessin,gs  of 
renewed  fellowship  with  God,  of  which  the  temple  and  its 
service  were  to  the  Jewish  mind  the  truest  type  (cf.  Rom. 
ll:lf.).  The  late  Apocalyptic-Traditional  view,  it  may 
be  mentioned,  attributes  verses  one  and  two  to  a  former 
Jewish  apocalypse  that  has  been  lost,  which  is  here 
quoted  as  an  introduction  to  the  prophecy  of  the  two 
witnesses  that  follows.  It  may  well  be  doubted,  however, 
whether  this  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  passage  adds 
anything  effective  to  its  interpretation. 

2    The  Two  Witnesses  and  their  Martyrdom  Ch.  11 :3 — 

13 

The  two  witnesses  who  prophesy,  i.  e.  bear  witness 
for  God,  and  whom  God  ever  preserves  throughout  all 
vicissitudes,  and  delivers  even  out  of  seeming  destruc- 
tion, are  the  churches  of  the  Old  and  New  Dispensa- 
tions which  have  been  divinely  called  to  witness  for  the 
truth.^  The  two  olive  trees  represent  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  revelations  which  supply  oil,  the  symbol  of 
grace,  to  the  two  candlesticks,  i.  e.  to  the  two  churches,* 
the  Jewish  and  Christian,  that  have  been  and  are  God's 
special  witnesses  throughout  the  ages  (cf.  Zech.  4:2f.). 

^See  Mommsen's  Prov.  of  Rom.  Emp.,  vol   ii,  pp.   214-17,   uote. 

=0n  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine,  expected  by  many  as  a  fulfilment 
of  prophecy,  see  the  very  satisfactory  remarks  of  Davidson,  art.  'Eschatology', 
Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  vol.   i,  pp.  737-8. 

'Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  289  ;  Faussett,  J.  F.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.,  p. 
613  ;   Wordsworth,   The  Apoe.,  lect.  viii ;   and  others. 

^Cf.  ch.   1.12f,  where  the  seven  candlesticks  are  the  seven  churches. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     157 

The  identity  of  the  candlesticks  and  witnesses  is  shown 
both  by  the  connection,  and  by  the  explicit  statement  of 
verse  four:  'These  [two  witnesses]  are  the  two  olive 
trees  and  the  two  candlesticks,  standing  before  the  Lord 
of  the  earth,'  i.  e.  the  witnesses  are,  in  a  sense,  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  revelations  and  the  churches 
of  the  Old  and  New  Dispensations,  which  alike  witness 
for  the  truth  of  God,  though  the  connection  shows  that 
the  churches  are  specially  intended.^  Two  is  the  number 
of  confirmation  in  witness-bearing  (Jn.  8:17) ;  hence  the 
two  witnesses  may  also  be  considered  to  symbolize  the 
sufficiency  of  the  testimony  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment churches,  as  also  a  sufficient  number  in  the  church 
in  every  age  who  witness  for  God  and  truth.  These 
have  power  that  is  not  of  man  but  divinely  given,  as  is 
indicated  in  symbolic  language  (v.  5-6),  yet  when  their 
testimony  is  finished,  the  Beast  out  of  the  abyss,  the 
world-power  of  chapter  thirteen,  introduced  here  by  an- 
ticipation, accomplishes  their  apparent  overthrow.  Out 
of  this  deadly  conflict  with  the  world,  and  the  apparent 
defeat  and  eventually  the  death  of  the  witnesses,  with 
the  exposure  of  their  dead  bodies  and  contemptuous  re- 
fusal of  burial,  a  personal  indignity  and  sign  of  hatred 
and  contempt,  the  fitting  type  of  the  world's  treatment 
of  the  church  in  all  ages  and  times,  which  in  the  vi- 
sion occurs  in  Babylon,  'the  great  city',  the  type  of 
the  godless  world, — out  of  all  this  seeming  defeat  comes 
ultimate  victory.  After  three  and  a  half  days  the  breath 
of  life  from  God  enters  into  them,  and  they  live  again, 
and  go  up  to  heaven  in  a  cloud.  This  points  to  the  ex- 
perience of  grave  peril  by  the  church  preceding  her 
triumph,  including  temporary  and  seeming  extinction  at 
the  hands  of  her  enemies,  and  forming  the  occasion  for 
an  expression  of  their  supreme  contempt,  an  experi- 
ence such  as  has  occurred  at  different  periods  in  her 
history,  and  vv^hich  may,  indeed,  occur  again  in  the  fu- 
ture— the  church  persecuted,  scattered,  peeled,  seemingly 
destroyed,  but  revived  and  restored  by  the  power  of  God. 
Three  and  a  half  days  of  defeat, — a  broken  number,  in- 
dicating a  short  but  indefinite  period  in  contrast  with 
the  three  and  a  half  years,  or  forty-two  months,  or  a 
thousand  two  hundred  and  three  score  days,  (v.  3),  the 
length  of  the  entire  world-conflict, — a  time  of  rejoicing  by 

iSee  Plummer,   Pulp.   Com.,   Rev.,   p.   289f,  who  is  remarkably  clear  on   this 
passage. 


158    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth,  is  followed,  as  in  the  case 
of  our  Lord,  by  resurrection,  ascension,  and  triumph,  a 
parallel  that  is  apparently  suggested  by  the  similarity 
and  was  doubtless  intended.  This  is  true  not  only  of 
individual  saints  who  have  borne  witness  and  suffered 
death  only  to  rise  again  in  the  witness  of  others  and  in 
their  own  personal  resurrection,  but  is  especially  true 
of  the  church  in  a  collective  sense,  both  under  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New,  which  always  rises  triumphant 
after  every  great  disaster  in  her  history,  and  shall 
rise  again  in  all  her  members  at  the  resurrection  of  the 
last  day  after  her  witness  is  complete.^  God  avenges  his 
own,  as  is  indicated  in  the  vision  by  the  fall  of  the  tenth 
part  of  the  city,  which  is  the  share  of  the  tithe  under  the 
Mosaic  law,  and  by  the  death  of  seven  thousand  men,  a 
great  and  complete  number,  seven  multiplied  by  a  thou- 
sand, who  bear  the  punishment  of  their  sin.  As  the 
result  of  the  martyrdom  and  avengement  the  rest  of 
men,  give  glory  to  God,  a  manifest  attestation  of  the 
value  of  the  church's  witness.  The  world's  persecution, 
though  bitter  and  continued,  fails  to  accomplish  its  end ; 
the  church  of  Christ  survives,  and  rises  again  in  powder, 
and  its  witness  becomes  effective.  Historical  interpreters, 
however,  generally  regard  the  two  witnesses  as  per- 
sons, futurists  identifying  them  as  Moses  (or  Enoch) 
and  Elijah,  whom  they  regard  as  yet  to  come,  and  pret- 
erists  finding  in  them  two  leading  characters  during  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  a  view  that  restricts  the  vi- 
sion to  very  narrow  limits.  Others,  catching  the  larger 
view,  interpret  as  'The  Christian  church  and  the  Chris- 
tian state',  and  still  others  as  'The  law  and  the  proph- 
ets', or  'The  prophets  and  the  priesthood', — i.  e.  the 
whole  spiritual  authority  of  the  old  dispensation 
which,  'though  perverted  and  destroyed  by  the  Jews 
(some  of  the  best  representatives  of  each  being  put  to 
death),  yet  rose  to  new  life  and  enthronement  in  Chris- 
tianity'. In  any  case  the  obvious  teaching  is  the  tri- 
umph of  faithful  testimony  for  God,  a  principle  of  in- 
estimable value  for  the  church  when  in  the  throes  of 
persecution.  And  now,  having  looked  on  the  vision  of 
the  angel  and  the  book,  and  of  the  two  witnesses,  the 
way  is  open  for  the  sounding  of  the  seventh  trumpet. 

^'The  two  martyrs  represent  the  martyr  church  as  sharing  the  royal  priest- 
hood of  the  Messiah,  and  as  endowed  with  the  gifts  of  prophecy  and  miracle- 
working  like  the  prophets  of  old,'  Briggs,  Mess,  of  Apost.,  p.  318. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     159 

It  may  be  noted  in  closing  our  study  of  this  epi- 
sode that  many  commentators  interpret  'the  great  city', 
in  verse  eight  of  this  chapter,  as  referring  to  Jerusalem, 
because  of  the  designation  'where  also  their  Lord  was 
crucified' — Jerusalem  being  regarded  as  a  world-city. 
The  decisive  reason  against  this,  however,  is  the  uni- 
form usage  of  the  book,^  for  the  interpretation  is  not 
otherwise  materially  affected.  Jerusalem  is  everyA\^here 
else  in  the  Revelation  the  type  of  that  which  is  holy,  and 
is  nowhere  else  called  'the  great  city',  while  this  name 
is  applied  seven  times  elsewhere  to  Babylon  (or  Rome), 
the  type  of  the  ungodly  world,  in  which  and  b}^  which 
our  Lord  may  be  truly  said  to  have  been  crucified;  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  adequate  reason  for  regarding  this 
passage  as  containing  an  exceptional  use  of  the  phrase. 
Whether,  however,  we  interpret  of  Jerusalem  or  of  Baby- 
lon the  general  sense  remains  the  same.  In  the  one 
case  the  apparent  defeat  and  contempt  for  the  church 
of  God,  or  its  witness  and  witnesses,  occurs  in  Babylon, 
the  type  of  the  godless  world,  while  in  the  other  it  hap- 
pens in  Jerusalem,  in  that  case  the  type  of  unbelieving  Ju- 
daism. Either  symbolism,  it  will  be  seen,  is  suitable  to 
the  context. 

IV       The  Vision  of  Conflict  (A  Vision  of  Warfare) 

Ch.  12:1—14:20 

A  discursive  view  of  moral  and  spiritual  conflict  as 
the  key  to  man's  redemptive  history,  the  prime  thought 
which  underlies  the  whole  book,  and  which  is  portrayed 
in  this  central  fourfold  vision  as  a  pervasive  church- 
historic  world-conflict  of  the  evil  against  the  just,  now 
forms  the  essential  climax  of  the  Revelation,  disclosing 
a  divine  panorama  of  the  world  in  process  of  redemp- 
tion with  the  great  opposing  forces  which  contend 
against  Christ  and  his  kingdom;  a  discriminating  out- 
look upon  the  significant  world-movements  of  all  time 
from  the  spiritual  point  of  view,  for  it  is  everywhere 
assumed  that  the  forces  which  mould  history  are  spir- 
itual, and  that  the  master  key  to  life  is  found  in  the 
supernatural.  And,  whatever  the  form  in  which  these 
movements  became  apparent  to  John  in  his  time,  we 
may  rest  assured  that  the  divinely  inspired  prophetic 
insight  led  him  to  perceive,  at  least  in  some  measure, 

iPulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  291  ;  Bib.,  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  639  ;  Vincent,  Word  Stud,  in 
New  Test.,  1  c. ;  also  Alford,  ar.  Test,,  vol.  iv,  p.  661. 


160     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

that  in  their  essence  they  were  timeless  and  repeated 
themselves  in  every  age.  This  central  vision  is  in  part 
the  most  difficult  portion  of  the  Revelation,  containing 
seven  mystic  figures,  viz.  the  Sun-Clothed  Woman,  the 
Great  Red  Dragon,  the  All-Ruling  Man-Child,  the  First 
Beast  (the  Beast  from  the  Sea),  the  Second  Beast  (the 
Beast  from  the  Land),  the  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion,  and  the 
Son  of  Man  on  the  Cloud,  each  one  of  whom  is  invested 
with  a  special  symbolism.  The  difficulties  of  interpretation 
belonging  to  this  part  of  the  Revelation,  it  will  be  seen, 
are  scarcely  lessened  in  any  degree  by  referring  different 
parts  of  the  section  to  various  Jewish  apocalypses  which 
are  supposed  to  have  contained  the  gist  of  the  thought 
in  this  portion,  according  to  the  Apocalyptic-Tradition- 
al view;^  for,  apart  from  the  fact  that  no  such  apoca- 
lypses are  now  extant,  these  sections,  even  if  they  were 
originally  derived  from  such  a  source,  have  an  ap- 
plication here  that  is  distinctively  new  and  specifically 
Christian.  The  vision  itself  is  properly  divisible  into  four 
parts  or  sections,  as  indicated  in  the  arrangement  that 
follows. 

A     The  "Woman  and  the  Dragon  Ch.  12 :1 — 6,  and  13 — 1 7 

This  is  a  vision  of  Satan  persecuting  the  church  and 
the  Messiah,  and  of  the  effective  divine  deliverance, 
which  although  permitting  a  continuance  of  the  conflict 
yet  provides  help  for  overcoming  and  anticipates  final 
victory.  The  scene  opens  in  heaven,  but  is  afterward 
transferred  to  the  earth — see  verse  six. 

1     The  Sun-Clothed  Woman  Ch.  12:1—2,  5— 

6,  and  13f. 

A  great  sign  is  seen  in  heaven,  a  Woman  glorious 
and  crowned,  arrayed  with  the  sun,  the  bearer  of  light, 
and  having  the  moon  under  her  feet,  i.  e.  triumphing 
over  time  and  change,  who  evidently  represents  the 
church  of  God  on  earth  which  was  first  Jewish  and  then 
Christian — 'the  ideal  community  of  God's  people'.  The 
moon  was  the  Jewish  divider  of  time,  and  the  phases 
of  it  being  marked  by  recurrent  changes,  it  naturally 
formed  a  ready  type  of  both  these  ideas ;  and  it  may  here 
also  include  the  thought  of  stability  of  existence  in  the 
midst  of  change  of  outward  appearance.^    The  sun  and 

iScott,  Netc  Gent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  234. 
=Plummer,    Pulp.    Com.,    Rev.,    p.    310. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    161 

moon  have  been  thought  by  some  to  indicate  the  relative 
light  of  the  New  and  Old  Dispensations,  though  it  is  more 
probable  that  both  have  been  introduced  mainly  to  en- 
hance the  conception  of  the  church's  ideal  glory.  The 
crown  of  twelve  stars  is  the  sign  of  the  covenant  peo- 
ple,— the  crown  is  aTeqpavoc,  the  crown  of  victory, 
which  God  designs  to  give  the  church,  and  the 
number,  twelve,  is  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  Israel — 
while  the  woman's  travail  angiiish  is  the  figure  of  Jew- 
ish affliction,  and  of  deep  longing  for  the  Messiah.  Some 
interpret  the  figure  of  the  woman  as  representing  the 
Virgin  Mary;^  but  the  symbol  is  clearly  wider  than  a 
person,  as  is  shown  by  the  whole  course  of  the  perse- 
cution with  its  transference  to  the  rest  of  her  seed 
when  the  Man-Child  has  escaped,  and  evidently  applies 
to  'the  mystical  mother  of  Christ',  the  church  whose 
seed  are  many,  though  the  source  and  appropriateness 
of  the  fi,gure  is  doubtless  found  in  the  fact  that  Christ 
was  born  of  a  w^oman. 

2    The  Great  Red  Dragon  Ch.  12 :3— 4,  and  13f. 

The  Dragon,  a  mythical  animal  of  traditionary  ter- 
ror, the  symbol  to  the  Jewish  world  of  all  that  which 
M^as  hideous  and  harmful,  and  described  as  red  in  color 
to  indicate  his  sanguinary  and  destructive  character, 
is  introduced  in  order  to  represent  the  Old  Serpent,  the 
Devil,  and  Satan  (v.  9),^  the  lord  of  the  present  world 
and  the  adversary  of  Christ.  His  seven  heads  with  dia- 
dems, and  the  ten  horns,  are  symbols  of  his  full  domin- 
ion and  absolute  power  over  evil  in  the  world  during 
the  period  of  conflict.  The  head  with  a  crown  or  dia- 
dem is  the  natural  s^mibol  of  dominion,  which  in  the 
Apocalyptic  literature  usually  signifies  kings  or  empires 
(cf.  Dan.  2:32;  and  7:6),  and  the  horn  is  a  recognized 
Jewish  emblem  of  power.  The  crown  is  the  8id8Ti|ia, 
the  sign  of  royalty,  not  the  OT8(pavoc,  or  gar- 
land crown  of  victory — a  distinction  that  is  carefully 
observed  in  the  Revelation,  as  is  indicated  in  the  Re- 
vised Versions  by  the  translation  *  diadem'.^  This  sym- 
bolism of  the  seven  heads  and  ten  horns  was  evidently 

^In  a  footnote  of  the  Revised  Douay  Version,  however,  the  interpretation 
there  given  is,  'The  church  of  God.  It  may  also,  by  allusion,  be  applied  to  our 
blessed  Lady' — an  interpretation  to  which  no  objection  can  properly  be  made. 

='This  threefold  description  (i.  e.  'the  Old  Serpent,  he  that  is  called  the 
Devil,  and  Satan')  gathers  up  the  primitive,  the  prophetic,  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment conception  of  the  supreme  Power  of  Evil.'  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  230. 

'See  Thayer's   Or.   Lex.  of  New   Test. 


162    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

chosen  to  indicate  the  manifestation  of  Satan's  power 
in  the  kin,gs  and  kingdoms  of  this  world  which  are  ad- 
verse to  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  their 
use  in  chapter  thirteen, — that  through  which  Satan  oper- 
ates and  makes  his  power  felt  being  attributed  to  him  as 
an  essential  part  of  his  being.  The  use  of  seven  and  ten 
together  implies  a  twofold  completeness,  i.  e.  complete- 
ness of  kind  and  completeness  of  parts  (see  App'x.  E). 
This  combination  of  seven,  the  symbol  of  perfection  of 
quality  which  is  usually  moral,  with  ten  the  symbol  of 
completeness  which  is  usually  earthly,  though  without 
necessarily  implying  any  moral  element,  is  used  with  an 
evil  significance  throughout  in  the  Revelation,  and  cre- 
ates some  difficulty  of  interpretation;  but  it  is  doubt- 
less best  explained  as  indicating  that  that  which  was  orig- 
inally designed  for  moral  perfection,  signified  by  seven, 
has  been  combined  with  and  prostituted  to  purely  earthly 
ends,  as  signified  by  ten,  which  ends  are  in  this  case  nota- 
bly sinful.  The  suitability  of  the  seven  heads  and  ten 
horns  belonging  alike  to  the  Dragon,  who  represents  Sa- 
tan, and  to  the  Beast  (ch.  13:1),  who  represents  anti- 
Christian  national  government,  is  thus  quite  manifest,  for 
both  are  evil.  If  we  compare  this  with  the  combination  of 
seven  with  seven  in  the  horns  and  eyes  of  the  Lamb,  where 
the  idea  of  a  twofold  spiritual  perfection  is  indicated, 
something  of  the  peculiar  combination  and  significance 
of  numbers  in  the  Revelation  will  become  apparent.  The 
Dragon's  casting  down  the  third  part  of  the  stars  from 
heaven  (v.  4),  i.  e.  a  considerable  number  but  not  the 
larger  part,  is  another  sign  of  his  power  (Dan.  8:10), 
and  may  allude  to  the  angels  who  lost  their  first  estate 
and  fell  with  him.  He  stands  waiting  in  the  vision  be- 
fore the  Woman,  the  church,  in  order  to  destroy  her 
child,  the  Messiah,  as  soon  as  the  child  is  born,  a  pur- 
pose that  he  does  not  prove  able  to  carry  out. 

3     The  All-Ruling  Man-Child  Ch.  12:5 

The  Man-Child  is  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  born  of 
a  woman,  and  whom  Satan  endeavors  to  destroy,  but 
who  was  brought  forth  to  rule  or  to  shepherd  all  the 
nations  with  a  rod  of  iron  (Ps.  2:9),  i.  e.  with  irresisti- 
ble power,  and  who  was  caught  up  to  heaven  by  his 
resurrection  and  ascension.  In  this  symbolic  action  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  are  passed  over  in  si- 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     163 

lence  in  order  to  set  forth  at  once  the  triumphant  es- 
cape as  the  chief  thought  in  mind,  and  the  futility  of  the 
Dra,gon's  effort. 

4  The  Wilderness  Refuge  Ch.  12 :6a,  and  14a 

The  wilderness  represents  the  present  evil  world 
as  the  place  of  trial  during  the  period  in  which  the 
church,  like  Israel,  continues  her  pilgrimage  toward 
the  promised  fulness  of  the  messianic  kingdom.  There 
may  also  be  a  reference  in  this  to  the  lands  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, called  a  wilderness  in  contrast  with  Canaan  the 
glorious  land  to  the  Jewish  patriot,  where  the  church 
'hath  a  place  prepared  of  God',  and  is  now  nourished 
like  Israel  of  old  in  the  wilderness;  or,  by  a  chan,ge 
of  figure,  like  the  prophet  Elijah  was  fed  for  twelve 
hundred  and  sixty  days,  the  equivalent  of  forty-two 
months,  or  three  and  a  half  years, — the  time,  [two] 
times,  and  half  a  time,  i.  e.  three  and  a  half  times,  of 
verse  fourteen, — the  symbol  of  the  indefinite  period  of 
the  church's  conflict  with  the  world,  or  of  the  world- 
triumph,  which  is  a  shortened  time,  a  term  that  will 
end  (see  App'x  E).  It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the 
preterist  interpreters  usually  regard  the  wilderness  ref- 
uge as  a  reference  to  the  flight  of  the  Christians  to  Pel- 
la  before  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  by  which  they  es- 
caped the  three  and  a  half  years  of  the  siege^ — cer- 
tainly a  remarkable  coincidence,  though  not  serving 
to  establish  that  interpretation — a  meaning  that  is  nar- 
row and  local  instead  of  broad  and  universal. 

5  The  Persecution  of  the  Woman  and  her  Seed 

Ch.  12 :4— 6,  and  13—17 
The  persecution  of  the  W^oman  with  her  seed  repre- 
sents Satan's  malign  but  fruitless  attempts  to  destroy 
the  church.  The  two  wings  of  the  great  eagle,  i.  e.  the 
number  of  added  strength  and  surety,  are  those  of  di- 
vine preservation  which  are  given  her  to  escape  from 
the  destroying  flood  cast  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Drag- 
on, the  apt  symbol  of  Satan's  persistent  effort  to  over- 
whelm the  church.  To  John's  mind  the  eagle,  which 
was  inscribed  upon  the  Roman  standards,  may  have 
seemed  the  symbol  of  the  Roman  Empire  that  at  first 
protected  Christianity  from  Jewish  persecution,^  or  the 

»Sce    Farrar,    Early    Days    of    Christianity,    p.    527  ;    and    Stuart,    Com.    on 
Apoc.  pp.   6l'7-8 

^Faussett,  J.  F.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  619  ;  and  Maurice,  The  Apoc,  p.  181. 


164     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

symbol  may  have  been  suggested  by  that  fact;  but  it 
represents  as  well  what  God  is  ever  doing  through  human 
and  earthly  means  for  the  church's  deliverance.  By  the 
exceptional  statement  that  '  the  earth  helped  the  woman ', 
we  are  evidently  to  understand  that  natural  causes 
helped  Christianity,  a  fruitful  suggestion  that  is  remark- 
ably exemplified  in  history.  The  Dragon  making  war  up- 
on the  rest  of  the  Woman's  seed,  i.  e.  all  of  her  seed  ex- 
cept Jesus  Christ,  who  was  caught  up  to  heaven,  in- 
dicates his  continued  attack  upon  the  church  and  its 
members. 

B     War  in  Heaven  Ch.  12 :7— 12 

We  have  in  this  incident  a  digression  in  the  midst 
of  the  account  of  the  persecution  of  the  Woman  in  or- 
der to  show  the  origin  of  Satan's  hatred,  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  conflict  in  the  far  past.^  Michael  the  arch- 
ar^gel,  regarded  as  the  presiding  angel  of  the  Jews  from 
the  time  of  Daniel,  together  with  the  angels  under  him, 
warred  with  the  Dragon  and  his  angels;  and  Satan,  be- 
ing cast  out  of  heaven,  transferred  the  conflict  to  earth. 
A  great  voice  is  then  heard  in  heaven  declaring  his 
downfall  together  with  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  recounting  the  suffering  of  the  saints  because 
of  him  (v.  10-12).  This  term  which  is  here  introduced, 
'the  kingdom  of  our  God',  though  used  but  twice  in 
the  book  of  the  Revelation,  is  the  most  notable  phrase  in 
the  New  Testament.  It  occurs  nearly  a  hundred  times, 
either  as  'the  kingdom  of  God',  or  'the  kingdom  of 
heaven',  a  term  which  signifies  the  rule  of  God  in  the 
earth,  God  becoming  king  among  men.  The  kingdom 
of  God,  it  should  be  seen,  has  a.  far  broader  meaning 
and  wider  sweep  than  the  church,  for  it  serves  to  in- 
clude all  that  God  is  ever  doing  the  ages  through  for 
the  spiritual  uplift  and  permanent  betterment  of  man- 
kind. In  the  broadest  sense  this  beneficent  kingdom  may 
be  defined  as  all  that  divinely  directed  movement  and 
control  in  human  life  and  history  which  has  for  its  ob- 
ject the  ultimate  accomplishment  of  the  mind  and  will 
of  God  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men — for  this  glorious 
kingdom  on  the  earthly  side  has  its  ultimate  seat  with- 
in the  human  heart  (Lu.  17:21).  Jesus  by  his  luminous 
teaching  lifted  that  name,  'the  kingdom  of  God',  out 

iPlummer,   Pulp.   Com,,   Rev.,    p.   312 :    Wordsworth,   Lect.   on  Apoc,  p.    200, 
'St    John  now  reverts  to  an  earlier  period.' 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     165 

of  the  older  and  narrower  phases  of  its  Jewish  use,  and 
gave  it  a  broader  and  more  beneficent  meaning  for  all 
succeeding  time.  The  casting  out  of  Satan,  which  is  re- 
lated in  this  section,  is  introduced  as  a  contributive  event 
to  the  glorious  coming  of  the  kingdom.  His  defeat 
in  heaven  foreshadows  his  defeat  on  earth,  and  though 
he  still  has  'great  wrath'  which  he  pours  out  upon  men, 
yet  'he  hath  but  a  short  time'  (v.  12),  i.  e.  a  time  that 
is  relatively  short,  until  Christ  shall  reign  in  power. 
They  who  are  our  brethren  overcame  him,  we  are  told 
(v.  11),  'because  of  the  blood  of  the  Lamb',  therefore 
they  are  called  upon  to  rejoice.  In  connection  with  this 
interpretation  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  time- 
relation  is,  in  this  view,  ignored  in  the  vision,  as  com- 
monly throughout  the  book,  for  Apocalyptic  often  does 
not  separate  the  near  and  the  far,  and  events  widely 
separated  in  time  are  viewed  as  contemporaneous  in  the 
timeless  sequence  of  prophetic  perspective.  Thus  the 
incident  before  us  without  any  intimation  takes  us  back 
to  the  period  anterior  to  creation,  and  then  recurs  as 
suddenly  to  the  experience  of  persecution  by  faithful 
Christians.^  In  all  Apocalyptic  writings  there  is  a  mani- 
fest indifference  to  formal  consistency  that  we  do  well 
to  bear  in  mind. 

According  to  another  view  the  account  in  this  sec- 
tion is  to  be  regarded  as  continuous  with  the  last,  verse 
seven  following  verse  six  in  natural  order,  and  the  conflict 
described  is  to  be  placed  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
making  the  victory  a  shortening  of  Satan's  power  fol- 
lowing upon  Christ's  redemptive  work,  and  depriving 
him  of  such  opportunity  as  he  hitherto  had  in  heaven 
of  accusing  the  brethren,  thereby  limiting  his  sphere  to 
this  world.  Notwithstanding  the  attractiveness  of  this 
view,  however,  and  what  may  be  said  in  its  favor  from 
several  passages  in  the  Gospels  (cf.  Lk.  10:18;  Jn.  12:31; 
14:30b;  and  16:11),^  the  former  interpretation  is  upon 
the  whole  to  be  preferred  as  agreeing  best  with  the 
general  sense  of  the  chapter.^  Such  a  symbol  of  victory 
over  Satan,  whatever  the  period  to  which  the  victor}^ 
may  be  attributed,  was  not  out  of  accord  with  ideas 

iLee  says,  'Verses  ten  and  eleven  commemorate  by  anticipation  the  victory 
of  believers.' Bi6.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  662;  Plummer,  favoring  a  similar  view,  suggests 
that,  'The  song  of  the  heavenly  voices  may  be  Intended  to  end  with  the  word 
'Christ'  (V.  10),  and  the  following  passages  may  be  the  words  of  the  writer  of 
the  Apocalypse,  and  may  refer  to  the  earthly  martyrs.'  Pulp.  Corn.,  Rev.,  p.  312. 

2Bleek,  Lect.  on  Apoc,  p.  268;   Stuart,  Com.  on  Apoc,  p.  623. 

'Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,   Rev.,  p.  312. 


166    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

current  at  that  time;  for  'this  feature  impossible  in 
modern  conceptions  of  heaven,  shows  itself  from  time 
to  time  in  pre-Christian  and  also  early  Christian  con- 
ceptions, viz.  the  belief  in  the  presence  of  evil,  or  the 
possibility  of  its  appearance,  in  the  heavens'  [i.  e.  in 
the  lower  heavens].^  In  any  case  this  section  places  in 
clear  perspective  the  great  truth  that  leadership  in 
the  antagonism  of  evil  with  righteousness  belongs  to  and 
takes  its  rise  from  the  supernatural  world,  and  what 
we  constantly  see  here  has  its  source  and  occasion  there, 
in  the  deeper  spiritual  vision  of  prophecy. 

In  the  interpretation  of  this  section  a  manifest 
parallelism  has  been  pointed  out  between  the  conflict 
of  Marduk  with  Tiamat  in  Babylonian  mythology, 
and  the  war  between  Michael  and  the  Dragon  in  the 
Apocalypse.^  Others  pursuing  this  idea  still  further, 
though  without  sufficient  ground  for  their  conclusion, 
have  attributed  to  Babylonian  origin  a  body  of  Jew- 
ish apocalyptic  traditions  which  they  assume  to  have 
been  one  of  the  sources  of  the  Revelation  and  to  have 
furnished  the  incident  of  this  section.^  In  correction  of 
this  position  it  should  be  seen  that  even  when  we  recog- 
nize to  the  fullest  extent  the  necessary  influence  of  con- 
tact with  Babylon,  both  early  and  late,  upon  Jewish 
thought,  and  the  introduction  of  ideas  from  that  source 
as  natural  and  inevitable,  it  does  not  follow  that  there 
was  any  such  use  made  of  Babylonian  mythology  in 
the  later  Jewish  writings  as  this  would  imply,  for  the 
Jew  was  exceedingly  wary  of  any  religious  ideas  that  did 
not  spring  from  his  own  ancestral  heritage.  It  is  indeed 
quite  probable  that  particular  concepts,  or  thought-ele- 
ments, like  that  of  the  Dragon  and  of  the  two  Beasts 
in  this  vision,  are  of  Babylonian  origin;  but  'the  hy- 
pothesis of  a  Jewish  messianic  use  of  an  entire  heathen 
sun-myth,  and  then  the  Christian  adaptation  of  the  Jew- 
ish formV  is  in  itself  highly  improbable  at  so  late  a 
period  in  Jewish  development,  and  can  scarcely  be  ac- 
cepted by  those  who  maintain  the  inspiration  of  the 
Apocalypse  in  any  essential  sense.  It  is  much  more  like- 

>Charles,  art.  'Bk  of  Secrets  of  Enoch',  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bih.  'The  under- 
lying conception  here  probably  is  that  the  Dragon  and  his  angels  attempted  to 
storm  the  highest  heaven,  and  in  the  end  were  cast  out  of  heaven  altogether.' 
Neic  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,   p.   230. 

2Sayce,   Hibbert  Lect's.,    (1887),   p.    102. 

'(jiinkel,   t^chopfumj   und   Chaos,   1805. 

^Porter,  art.   'Rev.,   Book  of,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     167 

ly  that  the  author,  if  using  such  material  at  all,  incor- 
porated the  thought  rather  than  the  form  of  such  float- 
ing Babylonian  fragments  as  belonged  to  his  time,  in 
accordance  with  his  usual  method  of  employing  the  He- 
brew literature,  though  this  is  wholly  a  matter  of  hy- 
pothesis.^ 

C     The  Two  Beasts  Ch.  13:1—18 

The  vision  now  sets  forth  two  of  the  principal  forms 
of  the  world's  opposition  to  Christ  and  his  kingdom, 
which  are  represented  as  Beasts,  monsters  that  are  ter- 
rible and  revolting  in  appearance,  that  are  placed  in 
notable  contrast  with  the  Lamb,  and  that  are  inspired 
by  Satan  who  stands  watching  in  his  dragon  form  on 
the  sands  of  the  sea — for  according  to  the  corrected 
reading  of  the  Revised  Version,  it  is  the  Dragon  and 
not  the  Apocalyptist  that  stands  upon  the  seashore.^ 
This  vision  affords  an  interesting  example  of  John's 
use  of  already  existing  material,  for  the  idea  of  two  wild 
beasts  opposing  the  Messiah  is  found  elsewhere  in  apoc- 
alyptic writings,  although  not  in  exactly  the  same  f  orm,^ 
and  is  here  made  the  basis  of  an  illustration  of  undoubted 
power.  The  Beasts  in  the  Apocalypse  are  the  natural 
and  fitting  embodiment  of  brute  force  operating  to  con- 
trol men  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  Some  would  prefer 
the  translation  of  O^tiqiov  as  a  'monster'  rather 
than  a  ' beast ',^  and  perhaps,  it  is  technically  more  ac- 
curate, but  the  long  use  of  the  term  'beast'  in  this  con- 
nection has  made  it  familiar  to  our  minds  and  also  in- 
telligible, for  it  is  a  beast  in  the  bad  sense  that  is  in- 
tended, and  to  the  average  reader  this  term  undoubted- 
ly conveys  the  proper  meaning. 

1     The  First  Beast— the  Beast  from  the  Sea  Ch.  13 :1— 10 

A  wild  Beast  fierce  and  bloodthirsty,  and  ideal  com- 
posite creature,  'like  unto  a  leopard  and  his  feet  were 

I'To  read  the  ideas  of  Rev.  xli  into  the  scattered  Babylonian  allusions,  in 
order  to  get  the  Marduk  myth,  is  too  fragmentary  to  be  relied  upon  as  a  basis 
for  such  a  theory  ;'  Moffatt,  The  Expositor,  Mar.,  '09,  art.  'Wellhausen  and  Others 
on  the  Apoc'  For  a  statement  of  Gunkel's  tradition-historical  view  see  art. 
'Rev',  in  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib,;  also  art.  'Apoc.  and  Recent  Criticism',  Barton, 
Am.  Journ.  of  7'heol.,  Oct.  '98.  Delitzsch  in  his  first  lecture  on  Babel  and  the 
Bible  (1902)  regards  all  references  to  the  Dragon  in  Scriptures  as  echoes  of 
Babylonian  mythology.  Davidson  in  art.  'Angel',  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  re- 
gards such  passages  containing  accounts  of  conflicts  between  God  and  other 
powerful  beings  as   'reminiscences  of  Cosmic  or  Creation  myths.' 

^Moffatt  supports  the  reading,  'I  stood'  (A.  V.),  and  in  this  view  he  is 
supported   by   Ramsay. 

^See  Apoc.  of  Baruch,  29.4  and  //  Esdr.  6.49. 

<Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  221. 


168    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

as  the  feet  of  a  bear,  and  his  mouth  as  the  mouth  of  a 
lion'    (v.    2),    evidently    formed    from    the    beasts    in 
Daniel's  vision  (eh.  7.  3f.),  is  seen  coming  up  out  of  the 
tempestuous  sea  of  the  nations,  and  is  manifestly  the 
same  as  the  Scarlet  Beast  of  chapter  seventeen,  the  one 
constantly  referred  to  as  'the  Beast'  without  any  other 
qualification.  This  is  the  symbol  of  the  universal  world- 
power,  i.  e.  all  the  world-kingdoms  are  considered  as  one 
and  personified  in  this  Beast  in   open  hostility  to  the 
church;^  national  opposition  to  Christianity,  exemplified 
by  heathen   Rome   in   John's   day   which   supplied   the 
groundwork  of  the  conception,  but  extending  far  beyond 
that  and   applying  equally  to   all   persecuting  nations 
during  the  whole  forty-two  months,  or  three  and  a  half 
years,  of  world-domination,  which  represents  the  dura- 
tion  of   the   church-historic   period   of   trial    (v.    5),   a 
period  that  is  broken  and  incomplete    (see  App'x  E). 
The  Beast  is  described  as  having  ten  horns  and  seven 
heads,  the  symbol  of  a  twofold  completeness,  both  that 
of  parts  (ten)  and  that  of  quality  or  kind  (seven),  the 
same  number  as  the  Dragon,  though  in  inverse  order, 
indicating  that  the  Beast  is  the  agent  of  the  Dragon,  i.  e. 
of  Satan,  and  is  possessed  of  like  dominion  and  power, — 
for  'the  Dragon  gave  him  his  i)ower,  and  his  throne, 
and  great  authority'.     The  heads  seem  to  symbolize  the 
world-power  taking  form,  and  the  horns  the  exercise  of 
that    power.       (For    the   further    development   of   this 
symbolism,  see  ch.  17.9f.)     And  it  should  be  noted  that 
the  ten  horns'  and  seven  heads  are  common  not  only  to 
the  Dragon  and  the  Beast,  but  are  also  the  sum  total 
of  those  belonging  to  the  four  beasts  in  Daniel's  vision, 
i.  e.  to  all  the  world-powers  there  designed,  a  symbolism 
which  suggests  that  it  properly  applies  to  more  than  one 
nation,  and  which  here  seems  intended  to  portray  the 
persistent  opposition  of  the  Devil  to  the  church  of  God, 
w^orking  through  the  power  of  the  world  in  all  time  and 
in  all  nations.     The  ten  crowns   or  diadems  upon  his 
horns  denote  the  fulness  of  his  sovereignty,  and  imply 
the  extent  of  his  earthly  rule;  the  names  of  blasphemy 
upon  his  heads  seem  to  refer  to  the  divine  titles  and 
honors  assumed  by  earthly  kings,  especially  those   of 
Rome,  as  Domitian  who   ordered   that  in  official  docu- 
ments he  should  be  styled  'Our  Lord  and  God' — a  figure 

•Dustordieck,   PlumnnT.   Paussett,   and  many  others.       Milligan  is  especially 
clear  in  his  exposition  of  this  passage,  Internat.  Com.,  vol.  iv,  p.  105. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     169 

that  is  perhaps  suggested  here  by  the  mitre  of  the  high 
priest  on  which  was  written  'Holiness  to  the  Lord',  to 
which  this  was  antipodal;^  while  the  wounded  head  that 
is  healed  refers  to  the  death  stroke,  given  to  the  world- 
power  by  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ,  from  which  there  has  been  seeming  recovery,-  for 
this  was  a  true  deathblow  to  the  world-power,  even 
though  it  failed  of  immediate  realization  and  thereby 
disappointed  Jewish-Christian  hopes  of  early  victory. 
The  Beast  blasphemes  against  God,  'his  name,  and  his 
tabernacle,  even  them  that  dwell  in  the  heavens',  i.  e.  the 
inhabitants  of  the  tabernacle.  'And  it  was  given  unto 
him  to  make  war  with  the  saints  and  to  overcome  them: 
and  there  was  given  to  him  authority  over  every  tribe 
and  people  and  tongue  and  nation';  but  it  is  only  as  it  is 
'given  unto  him'  that  he  can  exercise  his  power,  i.  e.  he' 
is  subject  to  divine  control.  And  every  one,  'whose  name 
hath  not  been  written  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  in 
the  book  of  life  of  the  Lamb  that  hath  been  slain',  shall 
worship  him.  Thus  is  depicted  not  only  the  tierce 
antagonism  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  church  in 
that  age,  but  the  perpetual  hostility  and  unceasing  op- 
position of  the  universal  world-power  in  all  ages  and 
nations  to  the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  God  among 
men. 

The  symbol  of  the  Beast,  notwithstanding  the  diffi- 
culty of  its  interpretation,  has  certain  distinguishing 
features  that  help  to  interpret  its  meaning.  The  close 
resemblance  to  Daniel's  vision  gives  a  clue  to  the 
thought  in  mind,  and  serves  to  indicate  the  proper 
method  of  interpretation.  That  the  world-power  in 
some  form  is  symbolized  in  the  vision,  is  clearly  indi- 
cated; on  this  point  all  interpreters  are  agreed,  though 
the  majority  of  modem  interpreters  regard  the  Beast 
as  the  Roman  Empire.  That  John  had  Rome  primarily 
in  mind  can  scarcely  be  doubted ;  but,  in  the  view  ac- 
cepted by  the  symbolic  interpreters,  the  Roman  Empire 
.  served  only  to  supply  the  groundwork  for  an  idealized 
conception,  in  which  the  ordinary  and  limited  view  of 
sense  has  become  transformed  under  the  influence  of 
prophetic  insight  into  the  wider  vision  of  a  world-power 
belonging  to  all  time  and  pervading  all  history  that  rises 
beastlike  in  strength  and  might  to  oppress  the  people  of 

^Plummer,   Pulp.   Com..   Rev.,  p.   331. 
^Plummer,  Pulp.  Com,.  Rev.,  pp.   331-2. 


170    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

God.  The  Beast,  according  to  this  interpretation,  is  the 
persecuting  world-power  in  any  and  every  age 
antagonizing  the  kingdom  of  God;  the  national  and 
political  forces  of  the  world  in  their  organized  form  ar- 
raying themselves  against  our  Lord  and  his  Christ; 
that  phase  of  the  world's  life  which  finds  expression  for 
its  opposition  to  the  children  of  the  kingdom  under  the 
forms  of  law  and  government,  the  most  sovereign  and 
irresistible  of  all  kinds  of  persecution.  This  symbol 
naturally  found  a  ready  and  satisfactory  interpretation 
by  the  early  church  in  the  prevailing  surveillance  of  the 
Roman  authority;  but  it  is  an  interpretation  none  the 
less  true  of  heathen  nations  everywhere  and  always, 
who  constantly  persecute  the  church  of  God.  The  in- 
terpretation thus  given  is  the  one  accepted  by  the 
symbolist  school  as  the  most  natural  and  satisfactory  of 
all,  having  a  world-wide  application  and  universal  con- 
tent ;  and  it  may  be  confidently  adopted  with  an  ade- 
quate degree  of  assurance  that  it  conveys  the  meaning 
intended.  The  preterist  interpreters,  on  the  other 
hand,  limit  the  meaning  of  the  First  Beast  to  the  Roman 
Empire,  using  its  power  to  oppose  and  oppress  Chris- 
tianity, and  construe  the  wounded  head  as  a  reference 
to  the  death  of  Nero  (see  notes  on  chapter  seventeen). 

(1)  An  Admonition  to  Patience  Ch.  13:9 — 10 

John  adds  a  word  of  warning  concerning  the  need 
of  patience  and  perseverance  for  the  saints.  If  any 
one  is  ordained  to  captivity,  into  captivity  let  him  go  as 
the  lot  appointed  him ;  resist  not,  for  he  that  taketh  the 
sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword;  this  is  the  test  of  'the 
patience  and  the  faith  of  the  saints'.  When  we  com- 
pare this  message  contained  in  the  tenth  verse,  which  is 
an  exhortation  to  patience  under  persecution,  with  that 
in  the  eighteenth  verse  of  this  same  chapter,  where  the 
exhortation  is  to  wisdom  against  deception,  we  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  different  kind  of  danger  that  is  to  be  ap- 
prehended from  each  of  the  two  beasts,  the  first  perse- 
cuting men,  the  second  deceiving  them. 

2     The  Second  Beast, — the  Beast  from  the  Land 

Ch.  13:11—18. 

Another  wild  Beast,   also   an   ideal   and   composite 

creature,  like  unto  yet  different  from  the  first,  is  seen 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     171 

coming  up  out  of  the  earth/  i.  e.  out  of  established  and 
well-ordered  society;  the  Two-horned  Beast  in  whom 
the  exercise  of  personal  power  or  force  is  less  prominent 
than  in  the  First  Beast  with  ten  horns  to  whom  he  is 
subordinate,  for  the  power  he  exerciseth  is  'all  the 
power  of  the  First  Beast'.  This  Beast  is  the  symbol  of 
the  universal  world-religion,  i.  e.  all  the  world-religions 
are  considered  as  one  and  personified  in  the  Second 
Beast,  in  disguised  hostility  to  the  church  of  Christ;^ 
the  False  Prophet  of  chs.  16 :13  and  19 :20,  assuming  to 
be  what  he  is  not,  and  using  his  authority  for  evil  ends, 
who  'deeeiveth  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth '.^  His 
two  horns  like  a  lamb,  but  voice  like  a  dragon,  indicate 
that  he  has  the  external  characteristics  of  a  lamb,  but 
the  inner  nature  of  a  dragon,  and  are  evidently  intended 
to  signify  that  he  appears  to  be  like  Christ,  while  he  is 
like  Satan;  he  represents  the  forms  of  religion  that  as- 
sume to  save  men,  but  in  fact  only  bind  them  to  evil. 
'He  doeth  great  signs  that  he  should  even  make  fire  to 
come  down  out  of  heaven  upon  the  earth  in  the  sight  of 
men',  i.  e.  not  a  literal  bringing  down  of  fire,  but  a  power 
counterfeiting  the  power  of  God  as  showTi  of  old  in  fire 
from  heaven,  a  great  sign  to  Israel  (Num.  16:35;  I  K. 
18:38),  and  sembling  that  of  the  two  witnesses  (ch. 
11:5).  And  he  required  of  'them  that  dwell  on  the 
earth,  that  they  should  make  an  image  to  the  Beast  who 
hath  the  stroke  of  the  sword  and  lived',  i.  e.  the  false 
religions  of  the  world,  which  the  Second  Beast  repre- 
sents, operate  to  make  the  people  subservient  to  the 
world-power,  the  First  Beast  which  had  the  stroke  of 
the  sword  and  lived,  with  which  these  religions  always 

^Scott  m.akes  the  sea  out  of  which  the  first  Beast  emerges  to  be  'the  Medi- 
terranean, from  beyond  which  the  empire  of  Rome  rose  before  the  eyes  of  the 
Jews' ;  and  the  earth  to  be  the  domain  of  'the  Roman  empire,  from  which  came 
the  priests  of  Caesar-worship — a  priesthood  native  born',  which  constituted  the 
second  Beast.  (New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  pp.  235  and  239).  Plummer  says,  'The 
sea  is  the  type  of  instability,  confusion,  and  commotion,  frequently  signifying 
the  ungovernable  nations  of  the  world  in  opposition  to  the  church  of  God.... 
■The  other  beast  pertains  to  the  earth,  thus  dividing  the  whole  world  between 
them.'    (Pulp.  Com.,   Rev.,  pp.  330  and  334). 

=Cf.  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  pp.  341-43  ;  Paussett,  J.  F.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.  pp.  621  ; 
and  Vaughan,  Lect.  on  Rev.,  p.  342  ;  also  Bp.  of  Ripon's  'Excur.  on  Rev.',  Pulp. 
Com..   Rev.,   pp.    582-85 

'The  identity  of  the  Second  Beast  with  the  False  Prophet  of  chs.  16.13, 
and  10.20,  can  scarcely  be  doubted  when  both  contexts  are  considered,  though 
some  historical  interpreters  have  identified  the  False  Prophet  with  Mohammed, 
the  false  prophet  of  Islam,  apparently  without  any  special  reason  except  that 
Mohammed  is  the  most  noted  of  all  the  false  prophets  of  history,  whereas  the 
False  Prophet  in  Revelation  is  the  representative  of  all  false  religions  in  all 
time,  an  admirable  symbol. 


172     STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

stand  connected  whether  in  Rome  or  in  other  nations;^ 
and  the  people  render  worship  as  they  are  directed. 
'And  it  was  given  unto  him  to  give  breath  to  the  image 
of  the  Beast  that  it  should  speak  and  cause  as  many  as 
should  not  worship  the  image  to  be  killed',  i.  e.  the 
heathen  religions  give  life  and  authority  to  national 
worship,  give  vitality  to  the  world-power  that  it  should 
command  and  compel  men  to  join  in  its  idolatrous  forms 
or  lose  their  lives  by  refusal.  Thus  the  whole  figure 
seems  to  indicate  the  spirit  of  the  world  operating 
against  the  church  through  the  forms  of  religion,  espe- 
cially as  seizing  upon  the  natural  and  ethnic  religions, 
permeating  them  with  deceit,  and  subverting  them  to 
worldly  ends  (v.  14),  the  element  of  religion  being  a 
prominent  feature  throughout.  Actuated  by  worldly 
wisdom,  which  is  'earthly,  sensual,  and  devilish'  (Jas, 
3:15),  this  Beast,  we  are  told,  bids  all  men  worship  the 
image  of  the  First  (v.  12  and  14),  i.  e,  worship  the  deifi- 
cation of  the  world-power,  thereby  insidiously  rehabili- 
tating the  world-power  in  another  form,  a  figure  likely 
drawn  from  the  worship  of  the  Emperor's  image,  a  cult 
prevailing  at  the  time,  and  showing  how  false  religions 
rest  upon  and  are  upheld  by  heathen  governments. 
John  doubtless  had  primarily  in  mind  the  heathen 
priesthood  of  that  period,  especially  the  priesthood  of 
Caesar-worship,  which  atforded  the  best  example  of  the 
then  existing  world-religions,  but  this  only  formed  the 
groundwork  of  the  larger  thought  of  the  vision.  Pret- 
erist  interpreters,  as  a  rule,  would  limit  the  meaning 
of  the  Second  Beast  to  the  heathen  priesthood  of  that 
time,  but  this  is  too  restricted  a  view.  Any  religion  any- 
where rejecting  the  Christ  and  crowning  the  world- 
power  is  represented  by  the  Second  Beast.  It  has  also 
been  suggested  that  the  Second  Beast  represents  the 
Asiarch,  or  chief  priest  of  Asia,  the  director  and  insti- 
gator of  Emperor-worship.2  This  may  possibly  have 
been  the  source  of  John's  idea;  but  however  formed  we 
should  regard  it  as  a  universal  and  poetic  conception  of 
one  continuous  phase  of  the  world's  opposition  to  Christ 
and  his  kingdom,  and  not  limit  it  to  any  particular  his- 

^We  should  not  forget  the  great  lesson  of  history  here  emphasized,  that 
the  natural  religions  of  men  are  always  intertwined  with  the  civil  power  in 
heathen  lands  ;  and,  also,  how  often  in  the  past,  even  in  Christian  nations,  the 
professed  faith  in  Christ  has  been  inwrought  to  its  great  undoing  with  the 
authority  of  the  nation. 

-Salmond,  Hist.  Inlr.  to  Neip  Test.,  p.  245  ;  Bousset,  Bib,  Encyc,  art.  'Apoc'.  ; 
also  Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  239. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     173 

toric  manifestation  of  that  opposition.  Others,  without 
sufficient  grounds,  have  referred  the  title  to  the  papacy, 
interpreting  the  First  and  Second  Beasts  as  Rome 
pagan  and  papal.  Another  interpretation  is  that  the 
First  Beast  is  the  secular  persecuting  power,  pagan  or 
Christian,  and  the  Second  Beast  is  the  sacerdotal  perse- 
cuting power,  pagan  and  Christian;  while  still  another 
and  better  interpretation  is  that  world-force  is  the  first, 
and  world-worship,  i.  e.  world-religion  and  superstition, 
the  second.^  Symbolist  interpreters  always  prefer  the 
wider  to  a  narrower  symbolism  in  accordance  with  their 
general  view  of  the  book.  According  to  this  view,  which 
is  the  one  accepted  in  the  present  volume,  all  the  world- 
religions  which  profess  to  be  holy  but  are  controlled  by 
the  same  spirit,  belong  to  the  Second  Beast  and  contrib- 
ute to  his  power.  The  aspect  of  heathenism  which 
here  presented  itself  to  John's  mind  is  the  most  general 
and  obvious  of  all  its  many  characteristics;  and  al- 
though we  now  recognize  more  fully  the  elements  of 
truth  in  the  ethnic  religions,  and  their  relative  value  in 
the  moral  education  of  mankind  when  without  the  gos- 
pel, yet  John's  view  still  holds  good,  and  is  confirmed  by 
the  world-wide  testimony  of  the  mission  field.  The 
world-spirit  which  lies  at  the  door  of  the  world-religions 
is  and  always  has  been  evil,  and  will  always  be  degrad- 
ing to  the  soul,  that  spirit  which  subordinates  the  moral 
and  spiritual  to  purely  selfish  and  worldly  ends.  The 
forms  of  the  Two-horned  Beast  today  are  just  as  deceiv- 
ing and  defiling  to  men,  and  as  much  opposed  to  the 
kingdom  of  God,  as  they  ever  were  of  old.  And  not 
only  are  all  the  world-religions  the  abiding  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Second  Beast,  but  even  the  Christian  church 
also,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  may  become  sub- 
servient thereto,  whenever  or  wherever  it,  or  any  part 
of  it,  may  be  dominated  by  the  spirit  of  the  world-reli- 
gions, and  thereby  yields  its  God-given  prestige  to  this 
Beast.  The  forms  of  human  learning,  too,  as  phi- 
losophy, science,  literature,  and  art,  when  they  trench 
upon  the  sphere  of  religion  and  become  atheistic,  agnos- 
tic, materialistic,  or  God-defying,  exhibit  the  spirit  of 
the  world-religions  in  opposition  to  Christ,  and  are 
manifestations  of  the  same  Beast.  This  power  is 
world-wide  and  age-long,  and  the  vision  seems  to  look 

*The   first    Is    Alford's    view    Or.    Test.,   vol.    iv,    pp.    675-79 ;    the    second    is 
Moulton's  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  Rev.,  pp.  207-09. 


174    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

through  and  beyond  the  forces  then  at  work  to  their 
wider  manifestation  in  history.  For  the  Second  Beast 
is  the  incarnation  of  the  permanent  and  universal 
world-religion  in  each  and  all  of  its  forms,  and  while 
presenting  one  aspect  of  the  world-religions  of  John's 
time,  yet  goes  far  beyond  that  and  portrays  the  prin- 
ciple of  opposition  to  the  church  of  Christ  which  under- 
lies them  all,  and  which  would  develop  new  forms  in  the 
period  when  Christianity  had  nominally  triumphed,  con- 
tinuing the  conflict  upon  different  lines  from  the  violent 
persecutions  of  the  earlier  ages;  a  period  when  the 
world's  opposition  to  God  would  be  expressed  'by  affilia- 
tion with  the  religion  of  Jesus,  and  by  penetrating  its 
life  with  false  ideals',  producing  a  faithlessness  within 
the  church  even  more  deadly  in  its  results  than  the  fatal 
furor  of  persecution,  for  the  world  within  the  church  is 
one  of  the  forms  of  the  Second  Beast,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing so  dangerous  to  the  life  of  the  soul  as  irreligious 
religion.^ 

(1.)  An  Admonition  to  Wisdom  Ch.  13 :18 

'Here  is  wisdom',  John  says:  'He  that  hath  under- 
standing, let  him  count  the  number  of  the  Beast;  for  it 
is  the  number  of  a  man', — or  rather,  'the  number  of 
man',  for  there  is  no  article  in  the  Greek,  implying  that 
the  reference  is  not  to  any  particular  man — ^  i.  e.  it  is  a 
human  number.  The  mark  of  the  Beast,  like  that  of  an 
ancient  devotee  to  his  idol,  is  put  upon  both  the  hand 
and  brain  (v.  16)^  of  all  the  people  who  accept  his 
authority,  without  any  distinction  of  rank,  rich  and 
poor,  bond  and  free,  small  and  great,  all  alike,  showing 
that  their  powers  are  uniformly  devoted  to  the  service 
of  this  world.  John  exhorts  the  church  to  wisdom  in 
discerning  this  Beast,  indicating  the  subtleness  of  his 
hidden  power.  The  number  of  his  name,  i.  e.  designa- 
tion, is  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  (some  manuscripts 
read  six  hundred  and  sixteen,  but  this  is  almost  cer- 
tainly an  error  of  transcription),  the  symbol  of  a  three- 
fold, composite  power  of  evil  which  includes  the  Dragon, 
the  First  Beast,  and  the  Second,  and  which  culminates 

^For  a  further  discussion  of  the  symbolism  of  the  Second  Beast  see  notes  on 
ch  17. 

=Plummer,   Pulp.   Com.,   Rev.,   p.  336. 

''Philo  reproached  Jewish  apostates  for  allowing  themselves  to  be  branded 
with  the  signs  of  idols'  (New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  191),  an  allusion  evidently  to 
the  same  practice  as  that  referred  to  here  in  Revelation,  and  showing  that  the 
language  used  is  something  more  than  merely  a  figure  of  speech. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    175 

in  the  last,  viz: — 600,  a  hundredfold  of  six,  a  numerical 
designation  of  the  Dragon,  plus  60,  tenfold  of  six,  a 
similar  designation  of  the  First  Beast,  plus  6,  onefold 
of  six,  a  like  designation  of  the  Second  Beast,  if  con- 
sidered alone,  which  together,  equal  666,  the  numerical 
designation  of  the  full  power  which  the  Second  Beast 
represents.  The  key  to  the  mystical  designation  666, 
according  to  this  interpretation,^  is  found  in  the  number 
six,  the  number  of  evil,  one  short  of  seven  or  perfection, 
Satan's  number,  whether  multiplied  by  ten  or  not,  here 
thrice  repeated,  six,  six,  six,  each  repetition  multiplying 
the  previous  number  tenfold,  or  six  a  hundredfold  added 
to  six  tenfold  added  to  six  a  single  fold,  producing  a 
triple  symbol  of  the  full  power  of  evil.  In  this  symbol- 
ism we  seem  to  have  the  thought  of  a  trinity  of  evil 
striving  in  antagonism  to  the  divine  trinity;  and  though 
we  cannot  be  sure  that  John  had  this  in  mind,  yet  it 
seems  quite  in  accord  with  the  apocalyptic  method  of 
depicting  truth.  If  the  reading  616  is  preferred,  the 
First  Beast  is  then  designated  by  10,  the  symbol  of 
earthly  completeness,  instead  of  60  as  above,  a  much 
less  likely  symbolism,  but  not  affecting  the  general 
meaning. 

The  mark  of  the  Beast  is  one  of  the  most  disputed 
points  in  the  whole  book,  and  some  commentators,  while 
suggesting  a  probable  interpretation,  prefer  to  leave  the 
meaning  unsolved.  Certainly  all  interpretations  find- 
ing in  the  number  a  cryptic  name,  such  as  Neron 
Caesar,  or  Lateinos,  notwithstanding  their  wide  accept- 
ance by  modern  interpreters,  should  be  discarded  as 
fanciful.^  The  number  was  evidently  intended  as  a 
designation  rather  than  a  name;  it  is  a  symbol  like 
every  other  number  in  the  Revelation,  and  any  attempt  to 
solve  it  by  reference  to  the  Jewish  gematria,  or 
numerical  indication  of  names,  is  foreign  to  the  method 
of  the  book,  and  only  involves  it  in  greater  obscurity,  as 
the  different  answers  obtained  in  that  way  will  show.^ 

*'In  apocalyptic  writings  tlie  interpretation,  if  added,  is  only  a  less  ob- 
scure form  of  the  enlgmn,  and  not  a  solution  of  if.  SchUrer,  Hist.  Jetcish 
Peop.,  part  II,  vol.  iii,  p.   47. 

2'It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  all  this  mystery  should  be  about  the 
name  of  a  dead  emperor  who  was  no  favorite  with  Jew  or  Roman,  or  why  the 
name  should  be  written  in  Hebrew  for  the  Christians  of  Asia,  or  how  so  promi- 
nent a  name  should  so  soon  be  forgotten,  especially  in  view  of  the  expectation 
of  his  return,  which  obtained  so  long.'    (Dean,  Book  of  Revelation,  p.   151.). 

3See  Salmon,  Hist.  Intr.  to  Neio  Test.,  p.  230f.  ;  also  Milligan,  Ea-pos.  Bib.. 
Rev.,  p.  23.5 ;  and  Plummer,  Pulp  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  337.  Farrar's  interpretation 
(following  Reuss,   Hitzig,  and  others)    is  Neron  Kesar,  using  Hebrew   letters   in 


176    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

While  that  interpretation  has  been  the  generally  ac- 
cepted view  with  preterists,  a  revolt  against  its  arbi- 
trariness is  manifest  in  late  writers,  and  cannot  but  be 
felt  by  the  attentive  student.^  That  six  hundred  and 
sixty-six  is  a  triple  symbol  of  the  full  power  of  evil,  has 
found  acceptance  with  a  multitude  of  readers,  and  is  the 
most  satisfactory  interpretation  to  those  who  hold  the 
symbolic  view. 

In  conclusion  it  should  be  said  that  the  identifica- 
tion of  this  Beast,  or  of  the  former  one,  with  the  Anti- 
christ of  John's  Epistles  is  of  more  than  doubtful  value 
in  arriving  at  the  meaning  intended;  for  the  Apocalyp- 
tist  studiously  avoided  the  use  of  that  term  though  quite 
familiar  with  it  (1  Jn.  2 :18 ;  2 :22 ;  4 :3 ;  and  2  Jn.  1 :7),  and 
we  surely  cannot  do  better  than  to  follow  his  example.  In- 
deed the  entire  interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse  will  be 
permanently  advanced  when  all  direct  reference  to  a 
personal  Anti-christ  is  finally  eliminated  as  foreign  to 
the  purpose,  if  not  the  thought  of  the  book.  In  the 
broad  sense  of  the  term  the  Anti-christ  is  the  'Against- 
Christ'  in  any  and  every  form.  John  tells  us  (1  Jn. 
2:18)  there  are  'Many  antichrists' (dvTiXQiOTOi  noAXol), 
a  term  peculiar  to  John  in  the  New  Testament ;  our  Lord 
said  (Mat.  24:24)  'There  shall  arise  false  christs' 
(iiJ8D86xQiOTOi),  a  different  term  in  the  Greek,  and 
evidently  referring  to  more  than  one ;  and  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  the  prediction  is  anywhere  intended  to 
refer  to  a  single  person.  The  term  may  be  understood 
in  a  general  way  to  include  the  Two  Beasts,  the  Harlot, 
and  all  other  forms  of  anti-christianity,  but  no  more 
definite  identification  can  with  any  probability  be  made. 

the  spelling  and  omitting  most  of  the  vowels,  as  follows  (see  Early  Days  of 
Christianity,  p.   540 ) ,   viz  : — 


N=50 
R=200 
0=6 
N=50 

N, 

and 

.s, 

,R= 

=666 

K= 
S= 
R= 

=100 
-60 

=200 

ig.RON=306 

or, 

KeSa 

R--360 

This  interpretation  is  the  one  now  generally  accepted  by  the  advanced  school 
of  commentators  in  the  present  day.  On  the  other  hand  if  the  last  letter  of  the 
name  (N)  be  dropped  we  have  the  value  of  616,  which  is  the  alternate  reading 
in  some  manuscripts.  Moulton,  however,  says  the  number  contains  'probably 
a  temporary  allusion  of  which  the  point  is  now  lost'  that  gave  a  cliie  to  the 
general  significance,  viz.  'world-religion  and  superstition  in  contradistinction  to 
world-force.'  (Mod.  Read.  Bih..  Rev.,  p.  200).  'The  non-identification  of  Nero 
with  the  666  by  any  early  writer  is  significant.'  (Cowan,  art.  'Nero'  Hastings' 
Diet,  of  Bib.).  '"Surely  not  'Nero  Kaisar.'  but  'Ashhur-Ramman  '  !  Cheyne.  Fresh 
Voyages  on   Unfrequented  Waters,     p.    171 — 1914). 

iPorter,  art.  'Rev.,  Bk.  of,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.    177 

D.     The  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion  Ch.  14 :1— 20 

The  closing  part  of  this  fourfold  vision,  revealing 
the  final  outcome  of  the  preceding  conflict  in  the  glori- 
ous triumph  of  the  Lamb  and  his  followers,  is  now  given 
for  the  comfort  of  the  church,  and  to  relieve  the  sombre 
shadows  of  the  earlier  parts  of  the  vision  by  a  foregleam 
of  victory. 

1.     The  Eedeemed  with  the  Lamb  Ch.  14:1 — 5 

We  see  here  a  vast  and  virgin  multitude,  a  hundred 
and  forty-four  thousand,  a  large  and  perfect  number, 
the  former  symbol  of  the  complete  first-fruits  from 
Israel  (ch.  7:4),  now  used  by  synecdoche  to  represent  all 
the  redeemed  who  have  been  chosen  from  among  men, 
the  best  of  their  race,  who  are  called  'the  first-fruits 
unto  God  and  unto  the  Lamb',^  and  who  stand  with  the 
Lamb  upon  Mount  Zion,  in  the  city  of  the  living  God, 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  having  his  name  and  the  name 
of  his  Father  written  upon  their  foreheads,  signifying 
to  whom  they  belong  and  marking  them  as  antipodal  to 
those  who  have  received  the  mark  of  the  Beast  (ch. 
13:16),  and  who  sing  a  new  song,  the  song  of  victory 
(the  Incommunicable  Chorus),  kno^vn  only  to  the  re- 
deemed. Of  this  blessed  company  it  is  said  that  Hhey 
are  without  blemish',  i.  e.  they  are  sinless  before  God, 
which  is  apparently  an  explanation  of  the  symbolism 
used  in  saying  that  they  are  'virgins',  and  'not  defiled 
with  women', — or  'among  women'.  Roman  Catholic 
commentators,  however,  usually  interpret  literally,  and 
apply  the  passage  to  those  women  who  have  never  en- 
tered into  wedlock  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake — 
a  construction  that  it  scarcely  seems  to  bear.^  Futurists 
generally  maintain  that  the  vision  refers  to  the  earthly 
Zion,  and  connect  the  incident  with  the  second  advent, 
making  the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  to  consist 
of  Jews  alone. 

'Following  the  Hebrew  custom  of  offering  the  first  fruits  to  God,  the  term 
is  probably  used  In  this  figure  as  the  symbol  of  that  which  is  given  to  God, 
though  it  may  possibly  refer  to  those  who  share  in  the  first  resurrection. 

"'  Uap-^evoi  'virgins,'  is  a  word  equally  applicable  to  men  or  women,' 
Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Pev.,  p.  347 ;  also  Swete  regards  the  word  'virgins' 
as  a  metaphor  for  purity,  as  most  interpreters ;  cf.  Thayer's  Gr.  Lex.  of  Neio 
Test.,  for  the  secondary  use  of  the  term.  It  is  evident  that  the  phrase  'These 
are  they  that  were  not  defiled  with  women' — or  'among  women' — may  properly 
be  interpreted  as  applying  to  men  who  were  not  so  defiled,  though  it  here  ap- 
parently represents  a  class,  whether  men  or  women,  who  are  declared  to  be 
free  from  impurity,  a  phrase  that  in  such  a  book  as  the  Apocalypse  is  more 
likely  to  refer  to  that  which  is  spiritual  than  to  that  which  is  physical.  Alford, 
however,  (Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv.  p.  685),  and  Moffatt,  also,  (Exp.  Or.  Test.,  vol.  v, 
p.  436),  both  interpret  literally  as  'virgins.' 


178    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

2.     The  Three  Angel  Messages  Ch.  14 :6— 11 

These  are  distinct  notes  of  divine  warning,  prelu- 
sive of  the  End,  which  are  given  by  the  mouth  of  three 
different  angels,  showing  their  separate  and  individual 
importance ;  they  are  three  in  number,  the  symbol  of  the 
spiritual,  indicating  the  nature  of  their  contents;  and 
they  are  introduced  as  preparatory  to  the  scenes  of  anti- 
cipated judgment  in  verses  fourteen  to  twenty,  and  are 
premonitory  of  the  End.  The  End  is  an  ever-recurrent 
note  that  always  finds  place  in  the  deeper  strains  of 
Apocalyptic  literature.  The  End  that  victory  may 
come,  was  the  natural  cry  of  a  spirit  that  despaired  of 
the  present  world,  and  believed  that  God  could  only  be 
vindicated  by  the  consummation  of  all  things.  This  was 
a  fundamental  weakness  of  the  Apocalyptic  point  of 
view,  which  found  the  proper  design  of  the  world  in  its 
speed}^  ending  and  not  in  its  longer  continuance,  a  mis- 
take that  unfortunately  has  been  perpetuated  in  Chris- 
tian thought  as  though  it  were  fundamental  to  it, 
whereas  the  victory  and  the  End  may  well  be  as  far 
apart  as  the  creation  from  the  victory.  The  Apocalypse 
sounds  the  note  of  the  End  without  hesitancy  or  discus- 
sion. The  difficulties  that  embarass  us  did  not  enter  into 
the  thought  of  that  time. 

(1)  The  Message  of  the  Eternal  Gospel  Ch.  14:6 — 7 

'Another  angel'  and  the  first  of  the  three  which  fol- 
low, flying  in  mid-heaven  proclaims  the  (or  an)  eternal 
gospel  to  every  nation  and  tribe  and  tongue  and  people 
before  the  time  of  judgment,  the  symbol  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  words  of  our  Lord:  'This  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  the  whole  world  for  a 
testimony  unto  all  the  nations ;  and  then  shall  the  end 
come'  (Mat.  24:14).  The  angel  exhorts  men  to  'fear 
God  and  give  him  glory ;  for  the  hour  of  his  judgment  is 
come',  i.  e.  is  now  at  hand. 

(2)  The  Message  of  Babylon's  Fall  Ch.  14 :8 

A  second  angel  proclaims  the  fall  of  Babylon,  the 
city  of  the  world,  the  dwelling-place  and  symbol  of  the 
world  of  sinful  men,  and  the  antithesis  of  Jerusalem, 
which  is  the  city  of  God,  the  dwelling-place  and  SA^mbol 
of  the  holy.  The  destruction  of  Babylon  is  a  necessary 
prelude  to  the  End,  for  the  sinful  worldly  life  which 


STUDIES  i/n  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     179 

finds  its  fitting  type  in  this  great  city  must  be  broken 
dowTi  before  Christ  can  triumph. 

(3)  The  Message  of  Doom  for  the  Beast  and  his  Fol- 
lowers Ch.  14:9—11 

The  third  angel  proclaims  the  doom  of  divine  wrath 
upon  the  worshippers  of  the  Beast  and  his  image,  i.  e. 
upon  those  who  glorify  the  blasphemous  world-power, 
or  share  in  the  deceit  of  the  world-religion;  and  the 
terms  of  the  message  are  full  of  terror  and  foreboding. 
Thus  in  a  concise  and  triple  message  is  foreshadowed 
the  universal  proclamation  of  the  gospel,  the  overthrow 
of  the  world's  social  and  communal  life  adverse  to  God, 
and  the  final  destruction  of  those  forces  in  national  and 
religious  thought  that  withstand  the  full  and  final 
triumph  of  the  Christ. 

3.  The  Blessedness  of  the  Holy  Dead  Ch.  14 :12— 13 

The  author  at  this  point  expresses  his  sympathy 
with  the  church,  setting  forth  the  need  of  patience  in 
the  conflict  (v.  12) ;  and  then  he  records  a  voice  heard 
from  heaven  (v.  13),  declaring  that  the  dead  who  die 
in  the  Lord  are  blessed  'henceforth',  i.  e.  after  death, 
for  they  have  both  rest  and  reward,^  and  possibly  in- 
cluding, also,  the  additional  thought  that  they  have 
thereby  escaped  from  the  great  tribulation  even  though 
by  martyrdom.  Thus  once  more  the  redeemed  are 
placed  in  opposition  to  the  unredeemed,  the  saved  are 
set  over  against  the  lost,  as  those  who  have  secured  the 
better  part. 

4.  The  Harvest  of  the  Elect  Ch.  14 :14— 16 

One  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man  (or  a  son  of  man),  i.  e. 
one  sharing  our  humanity — a  designation  of  the 
Messiah  after  the  time  of  DanieP — is  seen  sitting  upon 

I'The  writer  is  controverting  a  fear  that  at  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  those 
who  survived  on  earth  would  have  some  advantage  over  those  who  had  already 
died.  ..  .John,  however,  does  not  share  the  current  pessimistic  belief  that  death 
was  preferable  to  life,  .but  affirms  that  if  death  came  in  the  line  of  religious 
duty   it  involved   no   deprivation.'   Moffatt,   Exp.   Or.   Test.,   Rev.,   pp.    439-40. 

-'In  Jewish  Apocalyptic  writings  ever  since  Daniel,  a  Son  of  Man  had  been 
spoken  of  who  would  come  to  judge  the  world  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,'  (Pfleid- 
erer,  Hibbert  Lect.  (1885),  p.  34.  An  early  messianic  interpretation  was  given 
to  the  term,  apparently  because  of  its  fitness,  though  in  Daniel's  vision  'tlie 
son  of  man,'  a  figure  in  human  form,  is  understood  by  most  late  interpreters  to 
be  used  as  a  symbol  of  Israel,  whose  higher  qualities  are  set  in  contrast  with 
the  four  beasts,  and  its  messianic  use  is  believed  to  have  arisen  later,  though, 
perhaps,  soon  after  that  period.  For  an  instructive  discussion  of  this  familiar 
title,  'the  Son  of  Man",  so  difficult  to  adequately  interpret,  see  Charles'  edition 
of  the  Bk  of  Enoch,  app'x  B;  also  art.  'Son  of  Man'  in  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bit.; 
and  Sanday's  art.  'Jesus  Christ'  in  the  same  ;  together  with  art.  'Son  of  Man' 
in  Hastings  Diet,  of  Chi:  and  Gosp. 


180    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

a  white  cloud,  the  traditional  covering  of  the  divine 
majesty  and  a  symbol  of  the  divine  presence,  having  on 
his  head  a  golden  crown,  the  token  of  glory  and  of  vic- 
tory, and  in  his  hand  a  sharp  sickle,  the  instrument  for 
reaping.  And  on  the  announcement  of  another  angeP 
from  out  the  temple  that  the  hour  was  come,  he  cast 
his  sickle  upon  the  earth  and  gathered  all  the  faithful 
into  his  kingdom  as  a  harvest  that  was  ripe,  a  symbol 
of  the  ingathering  of  all  the  redeemed  preceding  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  (cf.  Mat.  25:31 — 46).  The 
action  set  forth  in  this  part  of  the  vision  is  preparatory 
to  and  anticipates  the  judgment,  yet  the  process  of 
judgment  is  not  described.  The  vision  is  occupied 
rather  with  pointing  out  how  the  path  of  history  in- 
evitably leads  to  the  judgTQent  bar.  The  incident  serves 
to  introduce  the  seventh  and  last  of  the  mystic  figures 
of  this  wonderful  vision  of  conflict,  the  Son  of  Man  on 
the  Cloud,  who  represents  Christ  as  the  theanthropic 
Redeemer  and  Judge,  a  quite  different  aspect  of  his 
character  from  the  Man-Child  where  he  is  set  forth  sub- 
ject to  the  conditions  of  his  mysterious  incarnation,  and 
therefore  requiring  an  entirely  different  symbol. 

5.     The  Vintage  of  Wrath  Ch.  14 :17— 20 

Still  another  angel  came  out  from  the  shrine  or 
sanctuary  of  the  temple  in  heaven,  at  the  summons  of 
the  angel  who  had  power  over  fire,  i.  e.  the  fire  of  the 
altar,  which  is  here  the  symbol  of  judgment,  and 
gathered  all  the  ungodly  as  vintage  from  the  earth,  and 
cast  them  into  the  winepress,  the  great  winepress,  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  a  figure  of  the  ingathering  and  fearful 
punishment  of  the  wicked  at  the  end  of  the  world.  Ac- 
cording to  this  view  the  two  gatherings  described  in 
verses  fourteen  to  twenty,  are  regarded  as  depicting  the 
opposite  fate  in  store  for  the  faithful  and  the  wicked, 
instead  of  a  twofold  account  of  the  same  event  repeated 
in  different  form  for  the  purpose  of  emphasis.  This  in- 
terpretation agrees  best  with  the  general  tenor  of  the 
chapter  and  the  common  method  of  contrast  throughout 
the  book;  others,  however,  regard  the  passage  as  a 
double  figure  of  the  judginent.^    The  scene  is  laid  out- 

^' Another  angel;  i.  e.  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  and  not  imply- 
ing that  he  who  sat  on  the  cloud  was  an  angel',  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev., 
p.  350. 

^'For  the  first  view  see  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  350;  Alford,  Gr.  Test., 
vol  iv,  p.  691f  ;  and  Swete,  Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.  187.  For  the  second  view  see 
Scott,  New  Cent.  Bih.,  Rev.,  p.  250  ;  and  Moffatt,  Exp.  Gr.  Test.,  Rev.,  pp.  441-42. 


STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     181 

side  the  city,  i.  e.  Jerusalem,  most  likely  the  New 
Jerusalem,  the  home  of  God's  people,  without  the  gates 
of  which  are  the  wicked  who  perish  (ch.  22:15).  The 
figure  may  have  been  drawn  from  the  scenes  of  terror 
and  bloodshed  which  attended  the  fall  of  the  earthly 
city  under  Titus,  a  view  quite  possible  if  the  later  date 
of  authorship  be  accepted,  though  possibly  there  may 
have  been  no  definite  city  in  mind.  Some  connect  this 
passage  with  the  struggle  in  chapter  twenty  (v.  7-10), 
where  the  nations  compass  the  beloved  city,  and  connect 
both  with  the  advent,  interpreting  literally, — a  view 
common  with  the  futurists.  And  we  are  told  that  when 
the  winepress  was  trodden  'there  came  out  blood,  from 
the  winepress,  even  unto  the  bridles  of  the  horses,'^  a 
symbol  of  the  terrible  destruction  of  life  that  ensued,  a 
flowing  stream  that  reached  as  far  as  a  thousand  and 
six  hundred  furlongs,  i.  e.  almost  two  hundred  Roman 
miles,  or  somewhat  farther  than  the  entire  length  of 
Palestine,  a  Jewish  synonym  for  a  great  distance. 
Sixteen  hundred  is  also  the  square  of  four,  the  earth 
number,  multiplied  by  the  square  of  ten,  the  number  of 
completeness,  which  perhaps  indicates  that  the  punish- 
ment is  complete  throughout  the  whole  created  world. 
The  passage  in  its  essential  thought  is  an  echo  from  the 
rhapsody  of  Joel  (ch.  3:13),  combined  with  the  vision  of 
judgment  in  Isaiah's  Zion  redeemed  (ch.  63:3-6),  and 
recalls  his  Assyrian  flood,  reaching  even  to  the  neck 
(Isa.  8:7-8).^  The  transition  to  the  vision  of  vials  is 
now  made  by  a  sudden  change  of  theme,  and  a  return  to 
the  world-process  of  judgment  that  is  age-long  and 
world-wide  in  its  scope  and  purpose. 

V.     The  Vision  of  the  Seven  Vials   [or  Bowls]     (A 
Vision  of  Judgment)  Ch.  15:1 — 16:12,  and 

16:17—21 

The  vision  of  the  seven  vials  is  a  revelation  of 
God's  last  plagues  upon  the  ungodly,  a  final  view  of  the 
divine  providential  purpose  concerning  the  wicked,  an- 
other group  of  seven  that  are  set  forth  in  a  form  similar 
to  the  judgments  under  the  trumpets,  but  of  increased 
severity,  and  that  are  promptly  executed.  They  are 
called  'another  sig-n',  and  may  be  regarded  as  another 

iCf.  Bk  of  Enoch,  100.3. 

2MouIton"s  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  210. 


182     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

line  of  judgments  of  similar  character  to  the  trumpets, 
or  as  the  complete  fulfilment  of  the  contents  of  the 
trumpet-judgments  presented  in  another  way,  which  are 
given  for  increased  emphasis  under  figures  that  are 
analogous,  and  that  indicate  their  inner  connection ;  and, 
so  far  as  the  vials  have  any  time-relation,  they  may  be 
regarded  as  belonging  to  the  same  general  period  as  the 
trumpets,  i.  e.  the  time  of  man's  existence  on  the  earth, 
especially  the  period  of  conflict,  though  sho^vn  by  their 
progressive  and  destructive  character  to  culminate  in 
the  closing  period  of  human  history.  The  vials  are 
marked  by  an  intensity  of  form  and  rapidity  of  move- 
ment, especially  as  they  approach  the  end,  and  they  are 
not  limited  like  the  trumpets  to  a  part  of  men,  but  affect 
all  the  evil.  They  are  vivid  symbolic  presentations  of 
deep  and  terrible  punishments,  and  are  called  Hhe  last 
plagues'  because  in  them  is  fulfilled  or  completed  the 
wrath  of  God  upon  the  earth — a  new  and  final  view  of 
the  divine  purpose  concerning  the  wicked  which  may  be 
looked  at  quite  apart  from  any  previous  view. 

Some  preterists,  who  find  in  the  seals  a  prophetic 
description  of  the  trials  of  the  church  in  the  first  age, 
regard  the  trumpets  as  a  typical  presentation  of  the  fall 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  vials  as  a  portrayal  of  the  fall  of 
Rome.^  This  opinion,  it  is  affirmed,  accords  best  with 
the  general  method  of  the  Apocalyptic  writings,  which 
have  for  the  most  part  a  definite  and  local  interpreta- 
tion, and  avoids  the  difficulty  of  an  apparent  repetition 
of  similar  judgments  upon  the  same  objects  under  the 
trumpets  and  the  vials.  But,  upon  the  other  hand,  the 
prophetic  outlook  of  John  appears  to  the  majority  of 
devout  minds  to  have  a  far  wider  sweep  than  that  of 
other  Apocalyptic  writers  outside  the  Scriptures,  and  to 
embrace  a  world-view  that  is  universal,  and  that  is  not 
at  all  met  by  these  limited  historical  fulfilments.  Still, 
even  if  the  former  view  were  correct  in  its  main  as- 
sumption, 'that  does  not  preclude  us,'  as  has  been  well 
said,-  'from  interpreting  the  inspired  words  as  refer- 
ring not  only  to  events  near  John's  time,  but  also  to 
other  events  of  which  they  were  the  foretaste  and 
figures.  To  us  the  meaning  [in  that  case]  is  that  the 
type  of  the  end  has  been  foretold  and  has  come,  but  that 

^See  Intr.  to  Johan.  B'ks.,  Temple  Bil). 
-Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  3. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     183 

the  end  itself  which  has  been  equally  foretold  [the  full 
end]  must  be  watched  for  in  all  seriousness.'  If  we 
have  a  correct  view  of  prophecy  we  can  readily  assent 
to  these  words  of  wisdom  which  cannot  be  too  strongly 
emphasized. 

It  should  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  revelation  of 
these  world-judgments  in  the  visions  of  the  seals,  the 
trumpets,  and  the  vials,  notwithstanding  their  separate 
character,  may  be  seen  to  follow  a  certain  line  of  devel- 
opment, showing  an  inner  connection ;  and  also,  that  the 
divine  purpose  of  judgment  may  be  considered  as  being 
in  a  general  way  partially  disclosed  under  the  seals, — 
for  judgment  is  one  phase  of  the  seals  though  a  sub- 
ordinate one — as  being  publicly  proclaimed  by  the 
trumpets,  and  as  being  fully  executed  in  the  pouring  out 
of  the  vials,  each  series  presenting  a  different  view, 
complete  in  itself,  of  God's  punitive  inflictions  for  sin 
throughout  the  whole  history  of  mankind.  They  are 
seen,  also,  to  reflect  God's  long-suffering  patience  with 
the  sinner,  first  making  known  his  wrath  in  an  order  of 
providences  which  affect  his  people  as  well  as  those  of 
the  world;  then  in  threatening  and  manifesting  his 
purpose  to  punish  evil  by  an  order  of  events  which 
affect  only  a  part  of  mankind,  i.  e.  the  sinful  because 
they  are  sinful,  and  that  afford  abundant  opportunity 
for  repentance;  and,  finally,  by  the  swift  execution  of  a 
divinely  just  though  terrible  punishment  upon  all  the 
obdurately  wicked  that  refuse  to  repent.  This  last  is 
the  great,  impressive,  and  awe-inspiring  thought  of  the 
vision  of  the  vials. 

A.     The  Preparation  for  the  Vials  Ch.  15 :1 — 8 

The  preparation  for  the  vials,  wdiich  is  now  entered 
upon,  is  a  connecting  link  with  the  former  vision,  and  a 
prelude  to  the  plagues  that  follow.  It  is  introduced  by 
an  inspiring  view  of  the  saints  who  have  come  victori- 
ous out  of  the  conflict  depicted  in  that  vision,  and  is  in- 
tended for  the  comfort  of  God's  people  in  the  midst  of 
trials  to  which  they  cannot  be  indifferent,  and  which  in 
affecting  the  world  of  nature  and  of  men  must  in  some 
degree  also  affect  the  righteous  as  well,  though  de- 
livered from  their  destroying  power.  The  comfort 
afforded  in  trial  by  the  promise  of  deliverance,  an  ele- 
ment which  has  no  small  share  in  the  purpose  of  the 


184    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

Apocalypse,  is  clearly  brought  out  in  this  introductory 
passage  before  the  vials  have  begun  to  be  poured  out, 
and  is  not  interjected  between  them,  as  in  the  episodes 
that  occur  in  the  seals  and  trumpets — the  episode  in  the 
vision  of  the  vials  being  a  warning  of  danger.  The 
vision,  too,  is  followed  immediately  by  the  comforting 
vision  of  victory  beginning  in  the  seventeenth  chapter. 

1.  The  Angels  with  the  Plagues  Ch.  15  :1 — 2a 

Seven  angels  appear,  to  whom  is  entrusted  the  exe- 
cution of  the  seven  plagues,  which  are  called  'the  last' 
because  they  lead  to  the  end  of  the  world  and  to  the  bar 
of  judgment;^  and  the  sea  of  glass,  formerly  described 
as  'like  unto  crystal',  now  becomes  'mingled  with  fire', 
the  sign  of  the  flushing  of  victory  through  anticipated 
judgment  felt  by  all  those  who  share  in  that  great 
boundless  life  which  exists  before  the  throne,  and  whose 
experience  is  symbolized  by  the  sea  with  its  wide  rela- 
tion to  the  people  of  God  in  the  past  (cf.  notes  on  ch. 
4:6).2 

2.  The  Victors  by  the  Sea  Ch.  15  :2b 

The  victors  over  the  Beast  and  his  image  stand  hy 
rather  than  upon  the  sea,^  indicating  their  close  relation 
to  it,  having  harps  of  God  prepared  for  tuneful  melody. 
The  figure  seems  to  be  drawn  from  the  triumph  of 
Israel  at  the  Red  Sea,  though  the  significance  of  the  sea 
cannot  be  quite  the  same,  for  in  the  old  sense  'the  sea  is 
no  more'  (ch.  21:1);  it  has  here  become  the  symbol  of 
the  calm  and  fulness  of  life  and  joy  in  the  presence  of 
God. 

3.  The  Song  of  the  Redeemed  Ch.  15 :3— 4 

The  united  song  of  all  the  redeemed  before  God, 
(the  Adoration  Chorus  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb)  who  be- 

''The  whole  of  God's  wrath  in  final  judgment  is  not  exhausted  by  these 
vials,  but  only  the  whole  of  his  wrath  in  sending  plagues  on  the  earth  previous 
to  the  judgment."   Alford,   Or.   Test.,  vol.   iv,   p.   693. 

"Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bih.,  Rev.,  p.  198.  Lange  suggests  that  'the  crystal 
sea  may  appear  as  though  illuminated  and  reddened  by  the  fiery  glare  of  the 
Anger  Vials.'  {Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  290)  ;  Alford  thinks  the  fire  in  the  sea  is  signifi- 
cant of  judgment,  (Gr.  Test.,  vol  iv,  p.  ti!)."!)  ;  and  Swcte  says.  'The  rod  glow  of 
the  sea  spoke  of  the  fire  through  which  the  martyrs  had  passed,  and  yet  more 
of  the  wrath  about  to  fall  on  the  world  which  had  condemned  them.'  (Apoc.  of 
St  John,  p.   191). 

'So    D'usterdieck,    Faussett,    Plummer,    Alford,    and    others ;    for    the    Greek 
preposition  i~i  with    the    accusative,    see    Thayer's    &r.    Lex.    of   New    Test. 
Swcte,   however,   regarding  the  sea   to  be  of  glass,   interprets   'on  the  sea  itself, 
which  forms  the  solid  pavement  of  the  final  approach  to  the  throne,'    {Apoc.  of 
St  John,  p.  192),  a  view  which  scarcely  accords  with  our  idea  of  a  sea. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    185 

long  alike  to  the  Old  Dispensation  and  the  New,  to  Moses 
and  to  Christ,  represents  the  essential  unity  of  faith 
and  life  under  both  parts  of  God's  redemptive  plan 
which  is  now  about  to  be  completed.  It  is  an  outburst  of 
praise  and  adoration  addressed  to  the  Lord  God,  the 
Almighty,  the  King  of  the  Ages,  whose  wondrous  works 
and  righteous  judgments  have  been  and  are  about  to  be 
made  manifest  before  all  nations.  The  song  is  the 
counterpart  of  the  song  of  deliverance  by  the  shore  of 
the  Red  Sea,  but  it  has  a  new  and  deeper  fulness  tliat  is 
consonant  with  its  theme. 

4.     The  Judgment  Made  Ready  Ch.  15:5—8 

The  temple,  the  \abq  or  inner  shrine  of  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  testimony  (i.  e.  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  law 
of  God),  is  seen  in  heaven  opened,  and  the  seven 
angels  who  are  clothed  as  priests  and  have  charge  of  the 
plagues  come  out  of  it  as  the  vindicators  of  that  law. 
These  are  'arrayed  with  precious  stone',  according  to 
the  variant  reading  adopted  in  the  Revised  Version, 
which  has  the  weight  of  manuscript  authority  in  its 
favor;  but,  as  this  reading  differs  from  the  Authorized 
Version  only  by  a  single  letter  in  the  Greek  word,  and 
only  yields  sense  by  the  insertion  of  the  word  'precious', 
it  is  best  to  regard  it  as  due  to  a  very  early  mistake  of  a 
copyist,  and  keep  the  old  reading,  'clothed  in  linen', 
(Ezek.  9:2).^  The  thought  is  in  either  case  practically 
the  same,  viz.  that  these  angels  are  clothed  like  priests, 
for  the  phrase  'arrayed  with  precious  stone',  if  we  ad- 
here to  that  reading,  recalls  the  breastplate  of  the  high- 
priest,  as  the  phrase  'clothed  in  linen'  evidently  refers 
to  the  garments  of  the  priesthood.  There  are  seven 
angels  in  the  vision  to  symbolize  the  universal  character 
of  the  punishments,  and  there  are  given  unto  them  by 
one  of  the  four  living  creatures  who  represent  all 
created  life,  seven  golden  vials  or  bowls  full  of  the  wrath 
of  God  (cf.  Jer.  25:15f)  to  indicate  the  nature  of  their 
mission.  'And  the  temple  was  filled  with  smoke',  the 
sign  of  the  presence  and  glory  and  terror  of  the  Lord; 
and,  as  at  Sinai,  no  one  could  enter  his  presence  while 
the  judgments  were  being  manifested. 

'Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  pp.  253-4.  Also  see  Westcott  and  Hort  in 
App'x  to  Or.  Test.,  'Notes  on  Select  Readings,'  p.  139,  who  favor  the  Revisers 
view  (/l/'i?ov);  and  Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  195,  who  supports  the  former 
reading  (Tiivov). 


186    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

B.     The  Vials  Poured  Out  Ch.  16 :1— 12,  and  17—21 

The  vials  or  bowls  in  the  vision,  which  are  appar- 
ently the  same  as  the  basons  used  in  the  temple  service 
for  receiving  the  sacrificial  blood  and  the  wine  of  the 
drink-oifering,  are  made  the  symbolic  receptacles  of  the 
judicial  wrath  of  God  against  sin,  called  'the  wine  of  the 
fierceness  of  his  wrath'  in  verse  nineteen,  which  is  evi- 
dently conceived  of  as  stored  up  through  long  periods 
to  be  suddenly  and  violently  poured  out.  The  golden 
bowls  seem  to  indicate  broad  shallow  vessels  quite  un- 
like our  modern  vials,  probably  of  a  deep  saucer-like 
shape  so  that  their  contents  could  be  poured  out  at  once 
and  suddenly.^  The  name  'vials'  has,  however,  been 
retained  in  these  notes,  notwithstanding  the  change  to 
'bowls'  in  the  Revised  Version,  because  of  its  associa- 
tions and  wide  use  in  commentaries.  The  translation 
of  (pidA,ag  as  'bowls'  is  doubtless  more  accurate,  but 
the  term  used  is  relatively  indifferent  if  the  proper 
meaning  be  attached  to  it.  They  are  not  vials  in  the 
modern  sense,  but  in  the  original  sense  of  the  word 
cpi&Xri  in  the  Greek,  which  is  the  source  of  our  Eng- 
lish word  'vial',  but  which  meant  a  sliallow  cup  or  bowl. 
The  pouring  out  of  the  vials  or  bowls  is  the  symbol  of 
the  execution  of  divine  wrath  upon  the  world.  The 
vague  description  given  in  the  vision  of  the  nature  of 
the  inflictions  which  finally  fall  upon  men  as  the  result 
of  the  pouring  out  of  the  vials,  forbids  our  attempting 
any  very  definite  interpretation  of  them  beyond  the 
most  general  one  that  the  world  of  nature  and  of  men 
is  made  to  abound  with  terrors  which  distress  the  evil. 
In  this  interpretation  we  can  be  absolutely  confident, 
and  the  general  effect  seems  to  be  the  chief  matter  of 
importance.  The  abiding  impression  of  the  judgments 
of  the  vials,  despite  their  obscurity,  is  one  of  deep  and 
pervasive  solemnity. 

(1.)     The  Command  to  Pour  Out  the  Vials  Ch.  16:1 

Preceding  the  opening  of  the  series  a  great  voice  is 
heard  out  of  the  temple,  i.  e.  from  the  inner  shrine  of 
the  temple  in  heaven,  apparently  from  God  himself, 
though  possibly  from  one  of  the  Angels  of  the  Presence, 
saying  to  the  seven  angels,  '  Go  ye  and  pour  out  the 

^Scott,  Neiv  Cent,  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  254  ;  Plummer  says,  'The  reason  of  the  em- 
ployment of  the  term  'vial,'  or  'bowl,'  is  most  likely  to  be  found  in  the  expres- 
sion 'cup  of  God's  anger,'  in  ch.  14.10.'  Pulp.  Com.,   Rev.,  p.  392. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.     187 

seven  bowls  [or  vials]  of  the  wrath  of  God  into  the 
earth';  and  in  obedience  to  this  command  each  angel 
empties  his  vial  into,  or  upon,  an  appointed  object.  The 
first  three  vials  are  poured  into  the  objects  named,  while 
the  last  four  are  poured  upon  them,  as  indicated  by  the 
prepositions  eig  and  E.-xi ;  but,  so  far  as  can  be  seen, 
no  special  purpose  is  served  by  this  use. 

1  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  First  Vial  Ch.  16 :2 

The  first  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the  earth; 
and  it  became  a  noisome  and  grievous  sore  upon  the 
men  that  had  the  mark  of  the  Beast:  the  symbol  of 
wrath  poured  out  on  the  earth,  and  thus  upon  the  men 
who  are  of  it  and  belong  to  it,  producing  suffering  that 
is  bitter  and  intense.  The  form  of  the  judgment  is 
doubtless  purposely  indefinite,  but  the  object  on  which 
it  falls  is  made  plain :  the  men  who  have  attached  them- 
selves to  the  company  of  the  Beast  bear  their  punish- 
ment to  the  full,  and  it  is  poured  out  upon  them  by 
divine  authority. 

2  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  Second  Vial  Ch.  16 :3 

The  second  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the  sea; 
and  it  became  blood  as  of  a  dead  man,  i.  e.  clotted  and 
putrefying,  and  it  caused  every  living  thing  in  the  sea 
to  die — a  form  of  judgment  that  was  very  repulsive  to 
the  Jewish  mind:  the  symbol  of  wrath  poured  out  on 
the  sea,  one  part  of  the  fourfold  division  of  creation 
noted  under  the  trumpets,  and  thus  upon  men  who  are 
made  to  suffer  by  this  means  for  their  evil  doing.  As 
under  the  trumpets  the  first  four  vials  are  poured  out 
upon  the  earth,  the  sea,  the  rivers  and  fountains,  and 
the  sun,  a  figurative  form  indicating  their  world-wide 
character — they  affect  the  whole  created  world. 

3  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  Third  Vial  Ch.  16 :4— 7 

The  third  angel  poured  out  his  bowl  into  the  rivers 
and  the  fountains  of  the  waters;  and  they  became  blood: 
the  symbol  of  wrath  poured  out  on  the  sources  of  water 
supply  for  the  people,  thereby  punishing  men  retribu- 
tively  for  the  righteous  blood  which  they  had  shed,  and 
calling  forth  voices  of  approval  from  heaven,  viz.  from 
the  angel  of  the  waters,^  and  from  the  altar,  i.  e.  from 

iTlie  term  'the  angel  of  the  waters'  reflects  the  apocalyptic  style  of  thought, 
for   it    is   not   unusual    in    apocalyptic   writings   to    assign   a    presiding   spirit    to 


188     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

the  place  where  the  martyrs  rest  (ch.  6:9).  Retribution 
is  declared  to  be  the  judicial  result  of  divine  wrath  for 
sin;  those  who  poured  out  the  blood  of  saints  and  of 
prophets  are  given  blood  to  drink  as  their  just  desert — 
a  fearful  punishment  to  the  Eastern  mind. 

4  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  Fourth  Vial  Ch.  16 :8— 9 

The  fourth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  sun; 
and  it  was  given  unto  it  to  scorch  men  with  fire:  the 
symbol  of  wrath  poured  out  on  the  heavenly  bodies, 
especially  upon  the  sun  the  source  of  light  and  heat,  that 
they  may  become  the  agent  of  punishment  to  men.  And 
men  blasphemed  the  name  of  Grod,  who  is  recognized  as 
having  power  over  these  plagues ;  and  they  repented  not 
to  give  him  glory,  exhibiting  the  aspect  of  punishment 
which  embitters  and  does  not  lead  to  repentance.  It  is 
a  curious  coincidence  that  the  parts  of  creation  which 
are  made  the  subjects  of  judgment  under  the  fourth  vial 
and  the  fourth  trumpet  are  described  in  Genesis  as  hav- 
ing been  created  on  the  fourth  day. 

5  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  Fifth  Vial  Ch.  16 :10— 11 

The  fifth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  throne 
of  the  Beast;  and  his  kingdom  was  darkened;  and  men 
gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain,  and  blasphemed  the  God 
of  heaven,  and  they  repented  not  of  their  works:  the 
symbol  of  wrath  poured  out  on  the  throne  of  the  Beast 
as  the  representative  of  Satan's  power  in  the  world, 
thus  afflicting  the  worshippers  of  the  Beast  and  his 
image.  Under  the  fifth  vial  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
plagues  pass  from  the  physical  to  the  spiritual  sphere 
of  action,  just  as  they  did  in  the  seals  and  trumpets; 
and  they  are  found  to  be  cumulative  rather  than  suc- 
cessive, while,  as  under  the  preceding  vial,  they  do  not 
lead  to  repentance  but  to  wrath  and  punishment.  Also, 
throughout  the  vials,  it  is  not  the  third  part  only  that  is 
afifected,  as  under  the  trumpets,  but  the  punishment 
falls  upon  the  whole  created  world,  showing  the  uni- 
versal character  of  the  judgments. 

natural  phenomena.  Cf.  Bk.  of  Enoch  (ed.  Charles),  60.16-21  ;  also  Intr.  to 
same,  p.  34.  In  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  just  as  in  other  writings  of  the  same 
class,  we  find  that  'angels  are  associated  with  cosmic  or  elemental  forces  as  fire 
and  water  which  they  direct.'  Davidson,  art.  'Angel,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 
Also  cf.  chs.  7.1 ;  9.11 ;  and  14.18  ;  in  connection  with  16.5. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.     189 

6  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  Sixth  Vial  Ch.  16 :12 

The  sixth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  great 
river,  the  Euphrates;  and  the  water  thereof  was  dried 
up/  that  the  way  might  be  made  ready  for  the  kings 
that  come  from  the  sunrising:  the  symbol  of  wrath 
poured  out  on  the  Euphrates,  the  center  and  seat  of 
heathenism,  or  on  the  world-forces  of  evil,  thereby  open- 
ing the  way  for  the  influx  of  the  Kings  of  the  East  to 
march  to  their  ruin.  The  Kings  of  the  East  evidently 
belong  to  the  'kings  of  the  whole  world'  (v.  14),  and 
are  instruments  of  the  Dragon  and  of  the  Beast  who 
go  up  to  war,  not  against  Babylon,  but  against  be- 
lievers.^ The  Euphrates  was  the  center  and  stronghold 
of  heathenism  to  the  Jewish  mind,  and  behind  that  lay 
the  indefinite  world-power  which  is  here  represented  by 
the  Kings  of  the  East ;  upon  these  the  angel  poured  out 
the  vial  of  the  retributive  wrath  of  God. 

[At  this  point  the  Episode  Vb,  given  in  verses  thir- 
teen to  sixteen,  occurs  in  the  order  of  the  vision, — a 
paragraph  which  though  of  limited  extent  has  yet  a 
clear  relation  to  the  course  of  the  vials  as  an  interven- 
ing vision  of  warning  to  the  redeemed,  and  preparing 
the  way  for  the  approaching  end]. 

7  The  Pouring  Out  of  the  Seventh  Vial      Ch.  16 :17— 21 

The  seventh  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  air ; 
and  there  came  forth  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple, 
from  the  throne,  saying,  'It  is  done:^  and  there  were 
lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thunders;  and  there  was  a 
great  earthquake,  such  as  was  not  since  there  were  men 
upon  the  earth':  the  symbol  of  wrath  poured  out  on  the 
air  as  the  familiar  abode  of  evil  spirits,^  and  also  of  the 
coming  of  the  End,  which  is  depicted  by  the  fall  of  cities, 
especially  of  Babylon  the  great  city,  the  type  of  the  god- 
less world,  which  is  divided  asunder  into  three  parts,  a 
symbol  of  completeness, — also  three  a  symbol  of  the 
divine,  perhaps  implying  God  hath  wrought  it, — and  is 

^'A  figure  possibly  drawn  from  the  action  of  Cyrus  in  diverting  ttie  waters 
of  the  river  when  he  took  the  city  of  Babylon.'  Bib.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  721. 

^Diisterdieck,  Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  419  ;  also  Alford,  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv. 
p.  700.  For  a  different  view  see  Milligan,  Internat.  Com,.,  Rev.,  p.  122 ;  and 
Plummer,   Pulp.  Com.,  p.   395. 

3'All   is  over'.     Moffatt,  New   Trans,  of  Neiv   Test. 

^See  Ascension  of  Isaiah,  ch.  7,  where  the  firmament  is  the  abode  of  evil 
spirits  ;  also  cf.  Eph.  2.2,  in  which  Satan  is  called  'the  prince  of  the  power  of 
the  air,'  apparently  reflecting  the  thought  of  the  time,  which  regarded  the  air 
as  the  abiding  place  of  evil  spirits. 


190    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

given  to  drink  of  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the  fierceness  of 
God's  wrath;  by  the  destruction  of  islands  and  moun- 
tains, and  by  a  plague  of  great  hail,  exceeding  great, 
every  stone  of  which  was  about  the  weight  of  a  talent, 
i.  e.  from  108  to  130  pounds;  'and  men  blasphemed  God 
because  of  the  plag-ue  of  the  hail'.^  The  End  itself  is 
unrecorded ;  but  with  the  infliction  of  the  seven  vials  it  is 
declared  that  'the  wrath  of  God  is  spent'.-  The  whole 
course  of  the  vials  is  toward  the  End,  which  though  not 
described,  yet  stands  out  in  singular  prominence  as  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  ruin  wrought  by  sin;  and  here, 
as  in  the  vision  of  the  trumpets,  the  millennial  period  is 
not  brought  into  view  as  a  preceding  stage.  The  transi- 
tion to  the  scene  of  victory  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  is 
after  this  immediately  made  by  one  of  the  vial-angels 
(ch.  17:1). 

If  we  now  recall  the  path  of  the  seven  vials,  we  can 
see  how  in  their  course  they  rapidly  and  intensively 
press  on  to  the  end  of  the  ages  and  to  the  final  ruin  of 
the  world,  and  also  how  they  aptly  prefigure  the  pro- 
gressive punitive  inflictions  of  God  for  sin.  They  are 
both  world-wide  in  their  character  and  relentless  in 
their  execution.  They  fall  upon  the  land,  and  upon  the 
sea,  upon  the  rivers  and  fountains  of  waters,  and  upon 
the  sun  the  source  of  light, — the  figurative  representa- 
tives of  the  created  universe.  Then,  like  the  judgments 
of  the  seals  and  of  the  trumpets,  they  pass  from  the 
natural  world  to  the  sphere  of  the  spiritual,  and  are 
seen  to  fall  upon  the  far-reaching  kingdom  of  the 
Beast,  i.  e.  upon  the  world-powers  operating  under 
Satan's  direction  in  open  hostility  to  the  church;  after- 
ward they  fall  upon  the  Euphrates,  the  old  center  of 
heathenism  and  seat  of  spiritual  darkness  in  the  far 
East,  the  typical  center  of  the  world-forces  of  evil;  and 
finally  under  the  seventh  vial  they  lead  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  the  conclusion  of  the  centuries,  and  the  day  of 
complete  recompense  for  sin.  The  distinction  between 
the  kingdom  of  the  Beast,  i.  e.  the  world-powers  of  all 
time,  and  the  forces  represented  by  the  Euphrates,  the 
center  and  seat  of  heathenism,  is  not  so  clearly  drawn 
under  the  fifth  and  sixth  vials,  as  that  between  Satan 

I'Every  Apocalyptic  writer  painted  the  final  catastrophe  after  the  model  of 
tlie  catastrophes  of  his  day,  only  on  a  vaster  scale  and  with  deepened  shadows.' 
Harnack,  art.   'Rev.,'  Encyc.  Brit.;  also  see  AssumpHcn  of  Moses,  10.8. 

-Twentieth  Cent.  New  Test,  in  Modern  English,  ch.  15.1  ;  the  Am.  R.  V. 
reads,  'In  thorn  is  finished  the  wrath  of  God". 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    191 

with  his  host,  and  the  world-forces  of  heathenism,  under 
the  fifth  and  sixth  trumpets.  But  the  kingdom  of  the 
Beast,  here,  as  elsewhere,  evidently  represents  the 
world-kingdoms  in  their  organized  form  (or  if  taken  in 
a  narrower  sense  the  then  kingdom  of  Rome  that  fore- 
shadowed them  all),  which  forces  are  spiritually  op- 
posed to  the  kingdom  of  Grod;  whereas  the  Euphrates, 
the  center  and  seat  of  spiritual  darkness  in  the  historic 
past,  apparently  represents  heathenism  in  the  great 
East,  which  is  here  regarded  as  a  far-reaching  spiritual 
force  operating  against  Christianity — the  judgments 
under  these  vials  falling  upon  the  world-force  operating 
in  the  sphere  of  the  spiritual,  and  upon  the  world- 
religions  opposing  Christianity.  And  no  one  surely 
can  read  the  record  of  the  vials  without  being  impressed 
with  the  unerring  certainty  and  absolute  terror  of  the 
final  punishment  for  sin;  so  that  even  if  the  vision  of 
the  vials  did  point  primarily,  as  most  preterists  insist, 
to  the  destruction  of  Rome  and  its  temporal  power,  it 
surely  points  yet  more  decisively  to  the  great  era  of 
judgment  upon  the  powers  of  evil  that  culminates  in  the 
closing  period  of  human  history.  The  vision  depicts 
God  punishing  the  evil  in  a  progressive  course  to  the 
very  end,  and  this  end  is  only  effectively  reached  in  the 
day  of  final  judgment. 

Vb     The  Episode  of  the  Frog-like  Spirits     (A  Vision 
of  Warning)  Ch.  16:13—16 

This  passage,  it  will  be  seen,  is  a  minor  digression 
between  the  sixth  and  seventh  vials,  corresponding  to 
the  episodes  in  the  vision  of  the  seals  and  of  the 
trumpets,  though  not  like  them  a  vision  of  comfort,  but 
a  vision  of  danger  to  the  church  from  the  combined 
forces  of  evil  in  the  world,  yet  not  without  anticipation 
of  the  glorious  outcome  which  is  given  in  the  nineteenth 
chapter  (v.  19-21),  for  these  forces,  we  are  told,  are 
gathered  together  unto  '  the  war  of  the  great  day  of  God, 
the  Almighty'  (v.  14),  the  outcome  of  which  in  the 
Revelation  is  never  at  any  time  in  doubt. 

1     The  Unclean  Spirits  of  Evil       Ch.  16 :13— 14,  and  16 

At  this  point  three  unclean  spirits,  as  it  were 
frogs, ^ — ^three,  the  symbol  of  the  spiritual,  used  in  this 

^Frogs   which   were   unclean    to   the   Hebrews   become   here   a  fitting   type  of 
unclean  spirits. 


192     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

case  exceptionally  of  the  spirits  of  demons, — come  out 
of  the  mouths  of  the  Dragon,  the  Beast,  and  the  False 
Prophet  (or  Second  Beast),  representing  the  malign  in- 
fluences by  which  these  powers  of  evil  incite  the  kings 
of  the  earth  to  the  great  world-conflict  against  Chris- 
tianity, described  here  under  the  figure  of  a  battle  of  the 
war  of  the  great  day  of  God,  the  Almighty,  taking  place 
at  Har-Magedon,  i.  e.  either  the  fortified  city,  or  the 
mountain  of  Megiddo,  by  the  edge  of  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon,  the  great  historic  battle-ground  of  Jewish 
history  (cf.  Joel  3:2f;  also  Bk  of  Enoch  56:5-8),^  prob- 
ably referred  to  because  of  the  notable  victory  attained 
there  over  the  kings  of  Canaan  (Jg.  5:19).  In  this 
culminating  scene  of  conflict  we  have  what  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  symbolic  view  of  the  entire  struggle  between 
sin  and  holiness  which  is  ever  going  on  in  the  world  the 
ages  through,  but  more  particularly  of  its  triumphant 
ending  in  the  last  age  when  the  Dragon  and  the  kings 
of  the  earth  shall  be  completely  and  finally  over- 
throAvn;^  but  beyond  this  partial  interpretation  we  can- 
not safely  go  in  any  trustworthy  exposition  of  this  truly 
impressive  figure.  The  symbol  of  battle  and  victory,  it 
depicts  the  conflict  of  the  centuries,  and  points  to  the 
assured  triumph  that  awaits  the  people  of  God  in  the 
end  of  the  world,  while  it  incites  men  to  persistent  faith 
and  hope ;  but  like  many  other  prophetic  predictions,  its 
explicit  interpretation  can  only  be  definitely  given  after 
the  events  themselves  have  been  openly  fulfilled. 

2    John's  Word  of  Warning  Ch.  16:15 

In  the  midst  of  the  episode  a  word  of  warning  is 
given  by  John  to  the  reader,  as  from  Christ  himself,  de- 
claring the  importance  of  watching  in  the  presence  of 
such  trial,  and  announcing  a  blessing  upon  him  that 
watcheth  and  keepeth  his  garments.  Then  with  the 
closing  words  of  the  episode  in  the  sixteenth  verse,  the 
vision  recurs  to  the  seventh  vial  which  is  at  once  poured 
out. 


^See  art.  'Har-Magedon,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 

=Plummer,  Pulp.  Com..  Rev.,  p.  396.  'The  final  world-combat.'  Moulton, 
Mod.  Read.  Bih.,  Rev.,  p.  212.  See  note  on  ch.  19.  11-21,  where  this  same  event 
is  again  referred  to. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    193 

VI     The  Vision  of  Victory  (A  Vision  of  Vindication) 

Ch.  17:1—20:15 

The  vision  of  victory  is  a  revelation  of  complete  and 
enduring  triumph  in  the  final  issue  of  the  conflict  be- 
tween sin  and  righteousness,  showing  the  doom  of 
Christ's  enemies,  the  vindication  of  the  righteous,  and 
the  consummation  of  the  ages.  The  vision  consists  of 
three  parts,  viz.  (1)  the  mystic  Babylon  and  her  fall, 
(2)  the  triumph  of  the  redeemed,  and  (3)  the  last  things, 
which  are  seven  in  number,  implying  a  sevenfold  com- 
pleteness. This  triple  division  of  the  contents  of  the 
section  before  us,  into  a  description  of  Babylon's  fall, 
redemption's  triumph,  and  the  things  of  the  end,  is 
one  that  is  clearly  indicated  in  the  thought  of  the  text, 
whatever  plan  of  division  we  may  adopt,  and  as  these  all 
belon,g  to  the  final  victory  in  its  completeness,  they  may 
well  be  presumed  to  constitute  parts  of  one  vision. 
Opinions  differ,  however,  concerning  the  correct  divi- 
sion of  this  part  of  the  book  almost  as  much  as  they  do 
in  regard  to  the  interpretation.  The  division  adopted 
here,  though  not  coinciding  in  all  its  parts  with  any  sin- 
gle authority,  is  one  of  the  simplest  and  most  natural, 
and  it  is  believed  will  commend  itself  to  the  reader.^ 
In  entering  upon  this  section  it  will  be  noted  that  the 
transition  from  the  vision  of  vials  to  the  vision  of  victory 
is  made  in  the  first  verse  of  the  seventeenth  chapter  by 
one  of  the  seven  vial-angels,  who  offers  to  show  John  the 
judgment  of  the  great  Harlot,  or  of  Babylon,  i.  e.  the  com- 
plete and  final  judgment  of  the  seventh  vial  wrought  out, 
thus  leading  by  a  natural  connection  of  thought  to  a  ful- 
ler view  of  one  phase  of  the  judgment  of  the  world,  and 
through  this  on  to  victory  and  to  the  End. 

A     The  Mystic  Babylon  and  Her  Fall  Ch.  17:1—18:24 

In  these  two  chapters  there  is  given  an  impressive 
portrayal  of  the  sinful  world  as  she  lures  men  to  evil, 
under  the  symbol  of  Babylon,  or  the  Harlot,  and  of  the 
final  punishment  inflicted  upon  her;  it  is,  in  fact,  an  elab- 
oration of  the  judgment  of  the  seventh  vial,  foreshad- 
owing the  downfall  of  the  most  insidious,  seductive, 
and  persistent  form  of  the  world's  opposition  to  Christ 
and  his  kingdom,   viz.   corrupt   society.    This  passage 

*See  division  made  by  Purvis  in  art.  'Rev.',  Davis'  Diet,  of  Bii.;  also  the 
analysis  given  in  the  introductory  part  of  Twent.  Cent.  New  Test.,  vol.  lii, 
Rev.,   'Table  of  Contents.' 


194    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION. 

forms  a  subclimax  of  rare  beauty  and  power,  and  one 
that  is  of  prime  importance  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
book,  for  it  contains  one  of  the  chief  ideas  of  the  Kev- 
elation,  and  necessarily  affects  our  conception  of  the 
prophecy  throughout.  That  pagan  Rome  in  its  social  de- 
basement and  spiritual  degradation  was  in  the  fore- 
ground of  John's  thought  can  scarcely  be  doubted;^  but 
in  the  light  of  prophetic  vision  it  formed  an  ideal 
groundwork  for  the  larger  thought  of  the  godless  world, 
the  world  from  the  standpoint  of  its  material  and  social 
forces  adverse  to  God  and  his  kingdom,  the  perpetual 
Rome.  Some  interpreters  limit  the  meaning  of  Babylon 
to  the  coeval  city  of  Rome,  or  to  the  nation  that  cen- 
tered in  the  city,  pagan  Rome,  others  refer  it  to  the  Ro- 
man church,  papal  Rome,  and  still  others  to  Jerusalem, 
the  Jewish  Rome,  while  a  common  interpretation  makes  it 
the  apostate  church  in  a  fallen  age,  a  prophetic  Rome. 
But  the  figure  is  more  correctly  interpreted  as  the  ideal 
and  universal  world-city,  a  symbol  designed  to  include 
every  city  or  community  that  exalts  itself  against  the 
dominion  of  Christ,  the  perpetual  Rome,  the  ever-re- 
curring Babylon  whose  spirit  never  dies,  the  city  be- 
ing regarded  as  the  highest  expression  of  the  world's 
social  and  communal  life.^ 

With  the  portrayal  of  Babylon  is  completed  the  cy- 
cle of  great  world-forces  that  we  find  depicted  in  the  Rev- 
elation as  arrayed  against  our  Lord  and  his  Christ. 
The  entire  opposition  of  the  present  evil  world  to  Christ 
and  his  kingdom  is  presented  in  these  visions  under 
four  separate  and  distinct  symbols, — four  the  earth- 
number — viz.  (1)  the  Dragon  or  Satan,  the  World-Lord, 
the  prime  antagonist  and  representative  leader  of  the 
spiritual  forces  of  evil,  who  incites  the  world  to 
resist  the  rule  of  Christ,  the  world  taking  its  cue 
and  color  from  Satan,  the  arch-enemy  of  all  good; 
(2)  the  First  Beast,  the  World-Power,  the  national  and 
political  forces  of  the  world  in  their  organized  form  op- 
posing and  persecuting  Christ  and  the  church,  the 
world  acting  through  the  elements  of  civic  and  social 
order,  of  law  and  government,  making  them  the  agents 

I'The  comparison  of  Rome  to  Babylon  underlies  much  of  Jewish  apocalyptic 
literature.'  Chase,  art.  'Babylon,  in  New  Test'.,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 

^Plummer  gives  a  different  idea  of  Babylon,  interpreting  it  as  'The  degen- 
erate portion  of  the  church  of  God.... all  the  faithless  of  God's  church  in  all 
time',  an  interpretation  that  is  not  accepted  by  most  commentators.  Pulp.  Com., 
Rev.,  p.   413. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.     195 

of  persecution;  (3)  the  Second  Beast,  the  World-Re- 
ligion, the  national  and  racial  false  religious  forces  of 
the  world,  with  their  moral  and  intellectual  thraldom 
over  the  minds  of  men,  contending  against  Christianity 
and  the  kingdom,  the  world  acting  through  the  elements 
of  the  natural  and  ethnic  religions,  and  of  supersti- 
tion and  priestcraft  their  innate  cogeners,  permeat- 
ing them  with  deceit  and  making  them  the  agents  of  de- 
lusion and  oppression;  and  (4)  the  Harlot  Babylon,  the 
World-City,  society  in  its  conunercial,  impure,  and  god- 
less life  resisting  the  progress  of  the  kingdom,  the 
world  acting  through  the  elements  of  the  social,  sexual, 
and  commercial  relations  of  men,  making  them  the  agents 
of  sin.  This  fourfold  form  of  world-opposition  to  Christ 
and  the  church  is  a  fundamental  conception  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, and  lies  at  the  core  of  any  correct  interpreta- 
tion of  the  book.^  For,  notM^thstanding  their  close  re- 
lation, to  identify  Babylon  with  the  first  Beast,  or  the  sec- 
ond, or  both,  as  is  often  done,  is  to  confuse  ideas  that  are 
essentially  distinct,  and  measurably  to  miss  the  proper 
significance  of  the  lesson  contained.  And  if  we  fail  to  per- 
ceive the  proper  meaning  of  any  part  of  this  fourfold  sym- 
bolism, we  lose  in  some  measure  at  least  the  complete  and 
general  effect  of  the  whole  sublime  creation  of  the  Apoc- 
alyptic vision. 

1     The  Harlot  and  the  Interpretation         Ch.  17:1 — 18 

The  vision  of  the  Harlot  is  a  figurative  and  pro- 
foundly significant  view  of  the  world's  sin  as  unfaith- 
fulness to  God,  described  under  the  analogue  of  un- 
faithfulness to  the  marriage  relation,  according  to  the 
familiar  method  of  Hebrew  thought.  The  world  is  pre- 
sented as  a  spiritual  harlot,  one  that  has  proved  untrue 
to  her  Lord  and  that  merits  condign  punishment. 

(1)     The  Judgment  of  the  Harlot  Announced  Ch.  17 :1 — 2 

One  of  the  seven  angels  having  the  seven  vials,  calls 
John  in  order  to  show  him  the  judgment  about  to  be 
inflicted  upon  the  great  Harlot.  The  agency  of  a  vial- 
angel  in  revealing  this  vision,  indicates  a  connection  be- 
tween the  vial-judgments  and  the  fall  of  Babylon;  and, 
as  stated  above,  it  is  an  elaboration  of  those  judgments, 
especially  that  of  the  seventh  vial. 

^See   App'x   A,    Division    V ;    also    'Excur.    on    Rev.'    by   Bp.    of    Ripen,    Pulp 
Com.,  Rev.,  p.  582. 


196     STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

(2)  The  View  of  the  Harlot  Ch.  17 :3— 6 

The  angel  carries  John  in  the  Spirit  away  into  a 
wilderness  where  he  sees  in  the  vision  an  impure  Woman 
arrayed  in  purple,  the  royal  color,  and  in  scarlet,  the 
sign  of  bloodshed,  while  she  is  decked  with  gold  and 
jewels,  the  tokens  of  her  wealth,  and  has  in  her  hand  a 
golden  cup,  full  of  the  abominations  of  her  fornications ; 
and  she  is  seated  on  a  scarlet-colored  Beast  that  is 
covered  with  names  full  of  blasphemy,  i.  e.  she  rests  upon 
and  is  allied  with  the  world-power,  for  the  scarlet  Beast 
is  the  same  as  the  Beast  from  the  sea  in  chapter  thir- 
teen (v.  1 — 10) ;  and  upon  her  forehead  her  name  is  writ- 
ten,i  'MYSTERY,  BABYLON  THE  GREAT,  THE 
MOTHER  OF  THE  HARLOTS  AND  OF  THE  ABOM- 
INATIONS OF  THE  EARTH',  and  she  is  'drunken  with 
the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  mar- 
tyrs of  Jesus'. 

(3)  The  Interpretation  Given  Ch.  17:7—18 

The  angel  declares  the  mystery  of  the  Woman  of 
Sin  to  John's  waiting  ears.  The  Harlot  whose  home  is 
in  the  wilderness,  i.  e.  in  this  world  (perhaps  so  called 
from  the  thought  of  the  wilderness  as  the  place  of 
temptation  of  Israel,  of  Elijah,  and  of  Christ,  and  as 
the  haunt  of  demons  where  the  scapegoat  was  sent  forth 
to  Azazel),  is  definitely  identifiel  with  Babylon  (v.  5 
and  18),  the  great  World-City,  the  dwelling-place  and 
representative  of  corrupt  society  tempting  men  to  evil. 
The  great  Harlot  is  the  ideal  personification  of  the 
great  city.  There  is  in  fact  a  double  symbolism;  the 
great  Harlot  symbolizes  the  great  city,  as  the  great  city 
symbolizes  the  great  world,  for  the  Harlot,  the  city,  and 
the  world  are  one  and  the  same  in  the  wider  thought  of 
the  Revelation.  She  is  the  combined  incarnation  of  com- 
mercialism, lust,  and  irreligion,^  the  unbelieving  world 
and  not  the  apostate  church,  humanity  untrue  to  God, 

^'This  practice  was  customary  with  harlots  ( Juv.,  'Sat..',  vi.  123 ;  Seneca, 
'Controv.',  i,  2).  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   415. 

='The  City  of  the  World,  the  ideal  concentration  of  all  this  world's  splendor 
and  wealth  and  might.... The  Evil-World-Metropolis.'  Scott,  Paragraph.  Ver.  of 
Rev.,  pp.  1-2.  For  a  convincing  presentation  of  this  view,  see  Lee,  Bib.  Com., 
Rev.,  pp.  734-45.  'The  Anti-Church', — i.  e.  the  world  in  antithesis  to  the  church, 
Seiss,  Lect.  on  Apoc.  vol.  iii,  p.  112.  'By  Babylon  the  whole  ungodly,  anti-ehris- 
tianized   world  is  intended.  ..  .an   ideal   city,   embracing  all  of  anti-christianity.' 

Lange,  Com.  on  Rev.,  pp.  278-803.       'Under    this    one    name    (Babylon) the 

whole  adverse  force  is  concentrated.'  Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  212. 
In  this  view  of  the  interpretation  which  is  adopted  in  the  present  volume,  the 
Harlot  is  the  anti-christian  world,  the  perpetual  Babylon. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     197 

the  social  life  of  men  adverse  to  the  kingdom.^  The 
Harlot  is  the  manifest  impersonation  of  lust  and  sexual 
impurity,  a  form  of  the  world's  sin  that  has  always 
been  the  source  of  ruin  to  a  multitude  of  souls — her 
traffic,  we  are  told,  is  in  the  'souls  of  men'  (ch.  18:13). 
She  represents  the  world  tempting  men  through  the 
sexual  appetite,  though  the  figure  does  not  stop  with 
that,  as  the  story  of  the  fall  of  her  wealth  and  the  pun- 
ishment of  her  irreligious  life  clearly  shows.  All  the  so- 
cial side  of  life  that  tends  to  sin  is  represented  by  this 
impressive  figure  before  which  the  Apocalyptist  'won- 
dered with  a  great  wonder'  (v.  6). 

The  interpretation  of  the  Harlot  Babylon  as  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  a  method  so  prevalent  in  the 
period  that  succeeded  the  Reformation,  is  happily  in  its 
decadence,  for  it  has  no  justification  in  the  text.  But  to 
find  in  this  figure  a  symbol  and  portent  of  apostasy  pre- 
vailing in  the  church  universal  that  shall  increase  as 
the  centuries  go  on,^  is  equally  unfortunate  and  imparts 
a  tone  of  pessimism  to  the  entire  prophecy  which  can- 
not be  too  strongly  deprecated.  No  sign  of  apostasy  is 
anywhere  given  in  the  account  of  Babylon's  fall,  for 
there  is  no  indication  that  the  Harlot  was  ever  holy. 
Her  sin  is  worldliness,  impurity,  idolatry,  and  perse- 
cution of  the  saints.  For  an  apostate  church  the  fitting 
symbol  for  that  age  would  have  been  not  Babylon  but 
Samaria,  the  city  of  the  faithless  Israel.  And  we  may 
be  confidently  assured  that  Babylon  represents  here  what 
it  always  stood  for  to  the  Hebrew  mind,  the  typical 
world-city,  the  hereditary  enemy  of  the  church  from  with- 
out and  not  from  within,  whose  harlotry  is  the  sign  of 
her  unfaithfulness  to  God  and  truth.  For  even  though 
a  majority  of  Protestant  interpreters  until  within  a 
late  period  have  made  Babylon  the  apostate  church, 
following  the  traditional  opinion,  it  is  nevertheless  a  mis- 
taken view,  since  it  is  based  upon  the  Old  Testament 
use  of  harlotry  as  a  figure  of  apostasy  and  idolatry  in 
Israel,  a  figure  assumed  to  be  identical  throughout,  ig- 
noring the  manifest  difference  in  its  present  use  in  con- 
nection with  a  heathen  city.  The  modern  view  that 
Babylon  is  Rome  in  John's  day  is  nearer  correct,  but 
is  too  narrow  in  its  application.    Babylon  is  the  abid- 

^For  other  views  see  Pulp.  Com.,  J.  F.  &  B.   Com.  on  Rev.,  and  Internat. 
Com.  in  loco. 

^As  with   Milligan   and   others. 


198    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

ing  Rome  with  its  worldly  life  striving  to  supplant  the 
Christ,  the  world-city  in  all  ages  and  times. 

The  Scarlet  Beast  on  which  the  Woman  is  seated, 
the  color  of  the  Dragon  (ch.  12:3)  and  the  sign  of  the 
blood  which  it  has  shed,  is  referred  to  as  the  one  that 
'was,  and  is  not;  and  is  about  to  come  up  out  of  the  abyss' 
(v.  8),  a  description  showing  it  to  be  the  same  as  the 
First  Beast  which  received  the  deadly  wound  that  was 
healed  (ch.  13:3),  i.  e.  the  world-power,  and  apparently 
designed  to  place  it  in  marked  antithesis  with  the  di- 
vine designation,  'who  is  and  who  was  and  who  is  to 
come,'  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  book  (v.  4  and  8). 
The  enigmatical  phrase  'was,  and  is  not;  and  is  about 
to  come  up  out  of  the  abyss,  and  to  go  into  perdition', 
may  also  refer  to  a  lull  in  the  persecution  by  the  world- 
power,  subsequently  to  be  renewed  and  leading  to  its 
final  destruction  as  a  power,  though  its  wider  reference 
is  perhaps  to  the  persistence  and  reappearance  of  the 
world-power  after  any  one  of  its  forms  has  been  over- 
thrown, together  with  the  certainty  of  its  final  ruin. 
Most  preterists  interpret  the  Beast  that  'was,  and  is  not; 
and  is  about  to  come',  as  a  reference  to  Nero  whose  re- 
turn was  generally  expected  (a  superstitious  phan- 
tasy of  a  Nero  redivivus),  by  a  change  of  figure,  the 
emperor  previously  referred  to  as  the  fifth  head  of  the 
Beast  becoming  the  Beast  itself — a  questionable  interpre- 
tation, apparently  wrought  out  by  a  keen  fancy  to  fit  the 
words  of  the  prophecy,  but  lacking  efficient  support  in  the 
text.  The  Beast  in  the  vision  carries  the  Harlot,  i.  e.  the 
world-city  rests  upon  and  is  upheld  by  the  world-power, 
an  unhallowed  union  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of 
the  Lamb  and  the  Bride.  This  symbolism  indicates  the 
near  relation  existing  between  the  world-city  and  the 
world-power  exemplified  in  history,  the  world  in  its  so- 
cial and  irreligious  form  allying  itself  with  and  relying 
upon  the  persecuting  world-power. 

It  should  be  noted  here  that  the  symbolism  used  in 
the  chapter  before  us  is  shown  to  be  very  wide  in  its 
application.  The  seven  heads  of  the  Beast  have  first  of 
all  their  proper  symbolic  meaning  of  full  or  univer- 
sal dominion,  i.  e.  dominion  over  this  present  evil  world; 
but  they  are  further  interpreted  to  have  other  and  differ- 
ent significance.  We  are  told  in  verse  nine  that  they 
are  'seven  mountains',  evidently  in  the  primary  mean- 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     199 

ing  those  of  the  city  of  Rome,  which  was  seated  on  sev- 
en hills ;  but  symbolizing  besides  this  all  mountains  and 
hills  which  are  the  seat  of  world-cities,  in  accordance  with 
the  common  apocalyptic  usage  of  seven  (cf.  II  Esdr.  2 :19 ; 
and  Bk  of  Enoch  18:6).  The  seven  heads  are  also  in  a 
sense  identified  with  the  'many  waters'  on  which  the 
Woman  sitteth  (v.  15),  which  we  are  told,  are  'peoples, 
and  multitudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues',  the  many 
dwellers  in  world-cities — for  she  spreads  her  power  over 
all  mountains  and  all  waters.^  They  are  also  'seven 
kings'  (v.  10),  the  king  representing  the  throne  and  all 
it  stands  for,  i.  e.  seven  kingdoms,  a  complete  number, 
the  totality  of  kind,  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
throughout  history,  though  probably,  like  the  seven 
churches,  conceived  of  as  individual  kingdoms  which  are 
taken  as  representative  of  all.^  Perhaps  in  John's 
thought  they  were  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  Persia, 
and  Greece,  the  five  known  to  him  that  were  already  fallen 
and  Rome,  the  one  then  existing — the  nations  connected 
with  Israel's  past.  The  past  was  history,  but  the  future 
was  seen  only  in  outline,  and  John  groups  it  all  under  one 
great  world-power,  completing  the  number  seven,  which 
was  yet  to  appear.  This  last  'must  continue  a  little 
while',  i.  e.  during  the  remaining  time  of  the  world's  ex- 
istence, the  usual  sense  of  'a  little  while'  in  the  Revelation, 
a  period  short  in  comparison  with  eternity.  The  Beast 
is  also  'an  eighth',  we  are  told,  i.  e.  when  it  is  regarded 
apart  from  the  seven  heads,^  for  the  world-power  may 
be  conceived  of  as  in  itself  a  unit,  comprising  all  its  dif- 
ferent manifestations,  and  yet  separate  from  them  and 
giving  rise  to  them.  The  remark  is,  however,  paren- 
thetic and  incidental,  and  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  cre- 
ating any  special  difficulty,  for  no  reference  is  anywhere 
else  made  to  an  eighth,  and  it  is  probably  introduced 
here   simply  because   eight  is   the   symbol   of  culmina- 

^This  description  of  the  Woman  as  'tlie  great  Harlot  that  sitteth  upon  many 
waters'  is  evidently  taken  from  the  Prophecy  of  Jeremiah  (Jer.  51.  13),  where 
the  many  waters  refer  to  the  many  canals  of  Babylon.  Here  the  phrase  is  used 
figuratively,  referring  to  the  'many  peoples'  (v.  15)  that  are  subject  to  Babylon 
in  the  Apocalypse,  and  affords  a  good  example  of  the  Apocalyptic  use  of  Old 
Testament  symbols  in  a  sense  that  is  somewhat  different  from  their  original 
meaning. 

2Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  417  ;  Faussett.  J.  F.  &  B.,  Com.  on  Rev.,  p. 
630  ;  and  many  others.  This  is  the  common  view  with  the  symbolist  inter- 
preters. It  should  be  remembered  that  the  identitication  of  the  particular  kings 
or  kingdoms  that  were  first  in  mind  in  this  symbolism, — for  there  probably 
were  such, — is  not  important ;  the  special  thought  is  that  of  all  kingdoms  in  all 
time. 

3'The  absence  of  the  article  before  dy^oog  'eighth,'  shows  that  this  is  not 
the  eighth  in  a  successive  series,  in  which'  the  kings  already  mentioned 
form  the  first  seven.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  417. 


200     STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

tion  (see  App'x  E).  We  are  further  told  that  the  Beast 
is  'of  the  seven'  (v.  11),  i.  e.  he  is  formed — Gr. ex — 'out 
of  seven',  or  in  other  words  the  Beast  is  the  seven  king- 
doms regarded  as  a  unit,  the  world-power  as  it  exists 
in  all  ages.^  Also  the  ten  horns  (v.  12)  which  symbol- 
ize complete  earthly  power,  ten  sjrmbolizing  complete- 
ness and  usually  applying  to  the  earthly,  are  repre- 
sentative of  various  subdivisions  of  the  world-power, 
minor  kingdoms  with  their  kings,  which  are  added  to 
the  seven  heads  as  an  additional  symbol  of  world-wide 
empire.  These  are  evidently  thought  of  as  yet  to  rise 
after  John's  day,  for  they  are  denominated  'kings,  who 
have  received  no  kingdom  as  yet,  but  they  receive  au- 
thority as  kings  with  the  Beast  for  one  hour',  i.  e.  each 
one  for  an  hour,  or  for  a  time  that  is  relatively  short,^ 
an  indefinite  period,  the  ten  kingdoms  reaching  in  this 
case,  apparently,  to  the  end  of  of  the  world — not  defi- 
nitely ten  kingdoms  or  kings  any  more  than  one  hour 
is  a  definite  time  limit,  but  rather  ten,  the  number  of 
completeness  of  all  the  parts,  representing  all  kings  and 
kingdoms  yet  to  rise  throughout  succeeding  time. 
'It  seems  probable,'  as  has  been  well  said,  'that  John 
foresees  that  the  hostile  world-power  will  not  be  always 
preeminently  wielded  by  one  nation  as  in  his  time;  but 
will  be  divided  into  many  parts,  here  represented  by 
the  number  ten  which  is  a  complete  number  and  not  nec- 
essarily implying  only  ten  in  all.  This  indeed  exactly 
describes  what  has  really  been  the  case  since  St  John's 
time,  and  what,  humanly  speaking,  seems  likely  to  con- 
tinue to  the  end  of  the  world. '^  It  may,  also,  be  pointed 
out  that  the  ruin  of  the  world-city  described  by  John 
has  been  the  fate  of  every  such  city  known  to  history. 
Thus  the  ten  horns  would  seem  to  be  identical  with 
the  seventh  king  or  kingdom  which  is  apparently  the 
last,  the  world-power  divided  into  many  parts  and  con- 
tinuing to  the  end  of  time.  These  divisions  of  the  world- 

^'The  Keast  is  the  sum  total  of  what  has  been  described  under  the  form  of 
five  kings,  then  one  king,  and  then  one  king  again.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev., 
p.  416f  'This  eighth  is  the  Beast  himself  in  actual  embodiment.  He  is  ek  tuv 
iirra  — not  'one  of  the  seven',  but  the  successor  and  result  of  the 
seven,  following  and  springing  out  of  them.'  Alford,  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv.  p.  711. 
Also,  see  Milligan,  Internat.  Com.,  Rev.,  pp.  127-8.  To  regard  the  Beast  that  is 
'an  eighth,'  and,  of  the  seven,  as  a  reference  to  Nero  is  an  anomalous  interpre- 
tation that  is  without  parallel  in  the  book,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  sustained. 

2'One  hour  denotes  'a  short  time'  (i.  e.  a  time  that  is  relatively  short  in 
the  measure  of  eternity).  The  Bible  in  this  way  constantly  describes  the 
period  of  the  world's  existence,  especially  that  period  which  intervenes  between 
the  time  of  the  writer  and  the  judgment-day  (cf.  Rom.  16.20  ;  I  Cor.  7.29  ;  and 
Rev.  6.11;  12.12;  22.20,  etc.).'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  417. 

'Plummer,  Pulp,  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   417. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.     201 

power,  though  originally  hostile  to  Christ  (v.  14),  shall 
yet  under  divine  direction  eventually  destroy  the  world- 
city  in  all  lands  and  make  her  desolate  (v.  16  and  17), 
i.  e.  the  corrupt  society,  centered  in  cities,  which  op- 
poses Christ  and  his  kingdom.  'And  the  Lamb  shaU 
overcome  them;  for  he  is  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of 
kings',  i.  e.  while  God  is  seen  to  work  through  the  multi- 
ple world-power,  the  ten  horns  or  kingdoms,  and  eventu- 
ally to  destroy  the  Harlot,  corrupt  society  in  the  world, 
he  yet  finally  overcomes  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  that 
war  against  him,  and  makes  them  his  own;  he  triumphs 
on  the  earth  in  the  fulness  of  time,  for  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world,  we  are  told,  shall  'become  the  kingdom 
of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ :  and  he  shall  reign  forever 
and  ever'  (ch.  11:15).  'And  they  also  shall  overcome 
that  are  with  him,  called  and  chosen  and  faithful'  (v. 
14) — the  promise  of  success  for  the  believing.  In  the 
preterist-historical  view  the  overthrow  of  the  great  city, 
or  the  Harlot,  by  the  ten  subordinate  rulers  or  kings, 
the  ten  horns,  is  commonly  interpreted  as  a  reference 
to  the  current  expectation  that  Eastern  nations,  espe- 
cially the  Parthians,  were  likely  to  march  against  the 
city  of  Rome  and  overthrow  it,  an  application  of  the 
prophecy  quite  possible  in  the  minds  of  the  generation 
which  first  received  it,  but  not  reaching  its  deeper  and 
essential  meaning,  and  failing  of  any  actual  realization. 
At  this  point  it  may  be  not  inapt  to  remark  that  the 
wide  latitude  with  which  the  symbolism  of  the  seven 
heads  is  interpreted  by  the  angel  in  this  chapter,  is  a 
valuable  guide  to  the  general  method  of  the  Apocalypse, 
and  should  put  us  on  our  guard  against  limiting  the  signif- 
icance of  the  symbols  strictly  to  a  single  thought,  where 
more  than  one  may  properly  be  intended.  At  the  same 
time  this  does  not  give  us  the  liberty  of  unlimited  free- 
dom, but  prevents  our  being  too  positive  in  many  cases 
as  to  the  exact  limits  of  the  symbolism. 

Other  interpretations  make  the  Beast  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  the  seven  heads  seven  different  forms  of 
Roman  government  known  to  history,  or  seven  individ- 
ual kings,  and  the  ten  horns  the  various  parts,  sub- 
divisions, or  subordinate  rulers  of  the  Empire.  The  cur- 
rent interpretation  of  the  preterist  school  accepts  un- 
qualifiedly the  seven  heads  as  seven  kings  of  the  Roman 
Empire  and  identifies  Nero  with  the  fifth  head  or  king 


202    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

who  is  now  'fallen',  i.  e.  is  now  dead,  but  is  about  to 
be  restored  again,  according  to  a  wide-spread  expecta- 
tion of  that  time,  and  to  become  the  eighth  head  or  king. 
This  view,  though  supported  by  many  eminent  author- 
ities, especially  those  of  the  later  critical  school,  in- 
volves serious  difficulties.  It  is  dependent  upon  the 
earlier  date  of  the  Apocalypse,  or  at  least  this  portion 
of  it,  i.  e.  just  after  the  death  of  Nero,  the  only  time  fit- 
ting such  a  prophecy — a  matter  by  no  means  assured; 
and  the  prophecy,  if  it  had  this  meaning,  was  falsified 
by  subsequent  events  within  a  generation,  a  contingen- 
cy which  would  necessarily  have  discredited  the  book 
before  the  church,  and  would  make  its  acceptance  as 
a  genuine  prophetic  writing  extremely  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  account  for.  These  considerations  serve 
to  nullify  the  surety  and  positiveness  with  which  this 
interpretation  is  generally  urged  by  its  advocates,  and 
late  writers  indicate  a  healthful  reaction  against  the 
view.^ 

Another  similar  view  makes  the  emperors  who  are 
intended  by  the  heads  of  the  Beast  to  be  (1)  Augustus, 
(2)  Tiberius,  (3)  Caligula,  (4)  Claudius,  (5)  Nero  (now 
*  fallen',  or  dead — Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitellius  who  suc- 
ceeded Nero  for  short  periods  being  omitted  as  pre- 
tenders), (6)  Vespasian  (the  one  who  now  'is',  i.  e.  now 
is  on  the  throne),  (7)  Titus  (who  'must  continue  a  lit- 
tle while',  i.  e.  have  a  short  reign),  and  (8)  Domitian 
(a  second  Nero — 'an  eighth'  who  'is  of  the  seven'). 
This  interpretation,  though  quite  possible  from  one  point 
of  view,  necessarily  limits  the  vision  to  a  narrow  hori- 
zon; and  while,  like  the  former  view,  it  tends  to  bring 
the  teaching  of  the  book  into  closer  harmony  with  Jew- 
ish Apocalyptic,  yet  it  obscures  to  some  extent  at  least  the 
v«7ider  and  universal  teaching  which  seems  to  the  average 
Christian  mind  to  belong  essentially  to  the  prophetic 
insight.  It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns  belong  originally  to  the  Dragon  or 
Satan,  as  symbols  of  his  world-wide  power,  and  are 
here  transferred  to  the  Beast  as  Satan's  representa- 
tive; and  therefore  it  is  more  likely  that  they  have  a 
universal  reference  than  that  they  apply  to  a  single  em- 
pire, for  Satan's  sphere  of  influence  is  confessedly 
world-wide  (cf.  ch.  13:1,  note).    Besides  it  is  fruitless 

^See  art.   'Rev.',   Hastings'  Diet,   of  Bib.  vol.   iv.  pp.   257-8. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION.     203 

to  attempt  to  interpret  with  any  positiveness  the  heads 
and  horns  as  individual  nations  and  kings,  as  the  di- 
verse results  have  shown,  each  interpreter  having  his 
own  application,  and  no  one  interpretation  being  gen- 
erally accepted.^  But  even  if  we  cannot  be  so  positive 
as  to  the  primary  meaning,  we  should  not  allow  the  larg- 
er and  more  important  meaning  to  escape  us,  the  mean- 
ing for  us  and  for  all  time.  This  is  the  fundamental 
principle  of  interpretation  according  to  the  symbolical 
school,  which  should  be  kept  in  mind  throughout;  and 
it  is  remarkable  how  often  the  general  meaning  is  plain 
when  the  original  reference,  as  in  this  case,  is  obscure. 
For  even  if  John  had  primarily  in  mind  certain  phases 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  his 
idealization  of  the  symbolism.  The  numbers  seven  and 
ten  are  not  to  be  interpreted  literally  but  symbolically 
as  elsewhere  throughout  the  book.  Whatever  kings  and 
kingdoms  are  in  the  first  instance  intended,  they  are  in- 
troduced as  the  type  of  all  kings  and  kingdoms  of  this 
world  throughout  all  time,  in  accordance  with  the  prev- 
alent use  of  numbers  in  the  Apocalypse;  so  that  in 
any  case  the  chief  thought  established  is  essentially  the 
same,  viz.  that  the  anti-christian  world-power  attains 
its  fulness  and  completeness  under  the  numbers  sev- 
en and  ten,  and  then  wanes  and  is  eventually  destroyed. 
If  we  interpret  of  Rome,  then  the  ruin  of  the  one  em- 
pire with  its  rulers  and  parts  foreshadows  that  of  every 
other  earth-power  that  opposes  the  rule  of  Christ 
among  men,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  one  city  with 
its  social  and  civic  forces  allied  with  evil,  prefigures  that 
of  the  entire  anti-christian  social  and  civic  power 
throughout  the  world. 

2     The  Fall  of  the  City  Proclaimed  Ch.  18 :1— 24 

The  mystery  of  the  Harlot  and  of  the  Beast  having 
been  revealed,  another  angel  now  declares  the  doom 
which  awaits  them.  The  downfall  of  the  city  and  the 
destruction  of  her  wealth  is  set  forth  as  the  type  of  the 
overthrow  of  corrupt  society  with  all  pertaining  to  it, 
in  order  that  the  fulness  of  Christ's  kingdom  may  be 
ushered  in  among  men.  In  the  vision  of  the  prophet  the 
ruin  is  viewed  as  already  complete;  attention  is  cen- 
tered so  fully  upon  the  result  attained  that  the  method 

iCf.   Plummer,  Pulp.   Com.,   Rev.,   p.   333. 


204    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

by  which  it  is  accomplished  is  left  quite  out  of  view. 
But  the  closing  verses  of  the  preceding  chapter  serve 
to  indicate  the  source  of  her  destruction,  viz.  in  the  ten 
horns,  or  subdivisions  of  the  world-kingdom,  which  rise 
against  the  Harlot  and  overthrow  her  (ch.  17:16-17), — 
the  historic  fate  of  world-empires  and  world-cities 
in  revolution  and  ruin.  It  is  here  worthy  of  note  how 
clearly  we  find  in  this  chapter  reverberating  echoes  from 
Isaiah's  Doom  of  Babylon  and  of  Tyre  (Isa.  ch.  13:23, 
47),  and  from  Jeremiah's  Doom  of  Babylon  (Jer. 
chs.  50  and  51),  as  well  as  from  Ezekiel's  Doom  of  Tyre 
(Ezek.  chs.  26-28).^  Though  the  fall  of  the  heathen  city 
of  Rome  was  doubtless  foremost  in  John's  mind,  let 
us  not  forget  that  it  only  formed  the  basis  of  the  wid- 
er thought  of  the  ultimate  fate  and  fall  of  the  great 
godless  world  which  it  so  clearly  foreshadowed,  the  fore- 
sight of  which  was  a  part  of  the  prophetic  vision.^ 

(1)  The  Announcement  of  Her  Overthrow  Ch.  18:1 — 3 

An  angel — called  here  'another  angel'  in  distinction 
from  the  one  designated  as  'one  of  the  seven  angels'  in 
chapter  seventeen  (v.  1) — is  seen  coming  down  out  of 
heaven,  having  great  authority,  and  crying  with  a 
mighty  voice,  '  Fallen !  fallen  is  Babylon  the  great ! '  and 
recounting  the  story  of  her  crimes  as  the  abundant  cause 
of  her  ruin. 

(2)  The  Warning  to  God's  People  Ch.  18:4—8 

Yet  another  voice  from  heaven  bids  the  people  of 
God  come  out  of  her  before  the  final  retribution,  that 
they  be  not  made  partakers  of  her  sins  and  receive  not 
of  her  plagues,  for  her  sins  have  reached  even  unto 
heaven;  and  urges  the  executors  of  her  judgment  to  re- 
ward her  double,  i.  e.  to  exact  full  legal  retribution  for 
her  sins  (Ex.  22:4-7).  And  she  shall  be  utterly 
destroyed,  shall  be  'burned  with  fire;  for  strong  is  the 
Lord  God  who  judged  her'. 

^Moulton,   Mod.  Read.  Bil).,   Rev.,   p.    212. 

2'Rome  never  has  been,  and  from  its  very  position  never  could  be  a  great 
commercial  city.'  Alford,  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  p.  718.  By  the  universal  nature  of 
the  figures  employed  it  is  evident  to  most  readers,  that  'the  whole  passage 
points  not  to  any  single  city,  at  any  one  single  period,  but  to  the  World-City 
throughout  all  time.'  Lee,  Bib.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  770. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    205 

(3)  The  Lament  of  the  Kings  of  the  Earth  over  Her 

Doom  Ch.  18:9— 10 

The  rulers  of  the  world-powers  who  have  shared  in 
her  sin  are  seen  standing  afar  off  for  fear  of  her  tor- 
ment, witnessing  her  fall;  and  their  cry  is  heard,  'Woe, 
woe,  the  great  city,  Babylon,  the  strong  city !  for  in  one 
hour  [i.  e.  in  a  short  time  or  suddenly]  is  thy  judgment 
come', — mourning  over  her  ruin  which  is  sudden  and 
complete. 

(4)  The  Lament  of  the  Merchants  Ch.  18 :11— 17a 

The  merchants  of  the  earth  also  weep  and  mourn 
over  her,  for  no  man  buyeth  their  merchandise  or  cargo 
any  more.  The  articles  of  merchandise  enumerated  are 
many,  indicating  her  wealth,  and  seem  to  be  arranged 
in  a  progressive  order  of  importance,  and  to  fall  natur- 
ally into  six  classes,  (Babylon's  number,  the  symbol  of 
evil — ch.  13:18),  which  may  be  divided  as  follows,  viz. 
(1)  those  of  personal  adornment;  (2)  of  furniture;  (3) 
of  sensual  gratification;  (4)  of  food;  (5)  of  animate 
forms;  and  (6)  of  souls  (i.  e.  persons)  of  men.^  All 
have  perished ;  and  the  merchants  cry  aloud,  '  Woe,  woe, 

the  great  city! for  in  one  hour  so  great  riches  is 

made  desolate.' 

(5)  The  Lament  of  the  Seamen  Ch.  18.  17b— 19 

All  those  who  gained  their  living  by  the  sea,  ship- 
masters, mariners,  and  every  one  that  saileth  any 
whither,  stood  afar  off  and  cried,  'What  city  is  like  the 
great  city  I'  And  they  cast  dust  upon  their  heads, 
weeping  and  mourning,  the  sign  of  their  deep  though 
worldly  sorrow,  saying,  'Woe,  woe,  the  great  city, 
wherein  all  that  had  their  ships  in  the  sea  were  made 
rich  by  reason  of  her  costliness !  for  in  one  hour  is  she 
made  desolate.'  In  this  triple  mourning  of  the  kings  of 
the  earth,  of  the  merchants,  and  of  the  seamen,  is  shown 
the  wide  relations  of  Babylon,  too  wide  in  fact  for  any 
single  city.  The  darkly  shadowed  terms  of  poetic  de- 
scription used  throughout  the  chapter,  set  forth  the 
completeness  of  her  destruction,  and  are  an  echo  from 
the  Fall  of  Tyre  in  Ezekiel's  prophecy  (chs.  26-28). 


^Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  432. 


206    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

(6)  A  Call  to  Heaven  and  to  the  Church  to  Rejoice 

Ch,  18:20 
By  a  voice,  evidently  from  above,  the  holy  are 
bidden  to  rejoice,  i.  e.  heaven  with  its  inhabitants,  and 
the  saints  or  the  church,  and  her  two  highest  orders  of 
ministers  in  the  past,  the  apostles  and  the  prophets,  are 
called  upon  to  rejoice  because  God  hath  judged  Babylon 
with  the  judgment  which  is  her  due  for  her  treatment  of 
the  saints.  This  invitation  to  the  'saints,  the  apostles, 
and  the  prophets',  to  rejoice  over  the  judgment  of  Baby- 
lon, which  to  that  age  doubtless  meant  Rome,  is  re- 
garded by  some  as  a  possible  allusion  to  the  martyrdom 
of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  who  met  death  under 
Nero.^ 

(7)  The  Symbol  of  Her  Irretrievable  Ruin 

Ch.  18:21—24 
A  strong  or  mighty  angel,  taking  up  a  stone  like  a 
great  millstone,  casts  it  into  the  sea  as  the  sign  of  her 
total  extinction,  and  rehearses  the  fate  of  the  city  in  the 
ominous  words  of  ancient  prophecy,  which  are  here  en- 
larged and  made  more  terrible  (cf.  Jer.  51:61 — 64). 
The  symbolism  used  throughout  this  chapter,  it  will  be 
noted,  is  largely  drawn  from  the  Old  Testament  proph- 
ecies concerning  the  ancient  cities  of  Babylon  and 
Tyre.  'And  in  her  was  found  the  blood  of  prophets 
and  of  saints,  and  of  all  that  have  been  slain  upon  the 
earth.'  Thus  in  terms  that  are  as  wide  as  the  earth  and 
as  far-reaching  as  history,  is  set  forth  the  sin  of  the 
godless  and  unbelieving  world  in  all  ages,  which  con- 
cludes the  pronouncement  of  the  judgment  upon  Baby- 
lon ;  and  the  judgment  seems  to  belong  properly  in  seven 
parts  as  a  sign  of  its  completeness.  ' 

B     The  Triumph  of  the  Redeemed  Ch.  19 :1— 10 

A  hymn  of  praise  (the  Hallelujah  Chorus),  such  as 
follows  each  crisis  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  forms  a  re- 
lief to  the  sombreness  of  the  visions,  is  sung  in  heaven 
by  a  great  voice  of  a  great  multitude  as  the  sequel  to 
the  fall  of  the  city  and  the  lament  of  the  world — the 
seventh  and  last  great  chorus  in  the  Revelation  (see 
App'x  C) :  and  then  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb  is 
announced  for  the  delight  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven. 
The  final  triumph,  it  will  be  seen,  is  here  viewed  as  a 

^See  Chase,  art.  'Peter    (Simon)'.,   Hastings'   Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.    207 

whole,  without  distinction  of  parts  such  as  are  found  in 
the  succeeding  section  which  treats  of  the  last  things. 

1     The  Choral  Song  of  Hallelujahs  Ch.  19:1—8 

In  response  to  the  heavenly  summons  to  rejoice 
(ch.  18:20),  a  thrice  repeated  note  of  victory,  the 
Hebrew  'Hallelujah',  Praise  ye  Jehovah!  is  heard  in 
heaven;  first  from  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  who 
say  a  second  time,  'Hallelujah',  and  then  from  the  four 
and  twenty  elders,  the  representatives  of  the  redeemed 
church,  together  with  the  four  living  creatures,  the  rep- 
resentatives of  all  created  life,  who  reply,  'Amen; 
Hallelujah.'  After  this  again,  in  response  to  a  message 
from  the  throne  (v.  5),  another  'Hallelujah'  is  heard 
from  the  voice  of  another  multitude  (v.  6-8),  as  the 
sound  of  many  waters,  the  voice  of  those  who  are  prais- 
ing God  in  full  and  joyful  chorus  because  he  has  avenged 
the  blood  of  his  servants,  and  who  are  now  rejoicing 
with  exceeding  gladness  (v.  7)  because  'the  marriage  of 
the  Lamb  is  come',  i.  e.  the  complete  and  final  union  of 
Christ  with  the  redeemed  church,  for  his  wife,  the 
church,  hath  made  herself  ready.  The  word  'Hallelu- 
jah' occurs  four  times  in  this  passage,  and  is  not  found 
elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament:  it  should  be  noted, 
too,  that  it  is  used  here,  as  it  is  chiefly  used  in  the  Old 
Testament,^  in  connection  with  the  punishment  of  the 
wicked.  The  first  voice  in  this  chorus  of  hallelujahs 
(v.  If)  is  apparently  that  of  the  great  multitude  of  the 
angelic  host  in  heaven,  which  is  responded  to  by  the 
four  and  twenty  elders,  and  the  four  living  creatures; 
while  the  second  voice  (v.  6f )  is  that  of  the  multitude  of 
the  universal  church  who  have  been  redeemed  by  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  The  description  of  the  pure  array 
of  the  Bride  (v.  8),  which  is  the  symbol  of  her  righteous- 
ness and  is  in  such  marked  contrast  with  the  clothing  of 
the  Harlot,  may  be  an  explanation  added  by  the  Apostle, 
as  indicated  in  the  text  of  the  Revelation  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding part  of  this  book  by  including  the  verse  in  a 
parenthesis,  though  it  was  apparently  regarded  by  the 
American  Revisers  as  part  of  the  words  of  the  redeemed 
church. 

^It  is  to  bp  resretted  that  the  Hebrew  word  'Hallelujah'  is  not  used  in  our 
Revised  Version  of  the  Old  Testament  as  it  is  used  in  the  New.  instead  of  the 
translation  'Praise  ye  Jehovah,'  especially  as  it  occurs  in  the  Book  of  Psalms 
where  its  use  is  so  fitting.  It  is  now  a  well-known  English  word,  and  is  en- 
titled to  a  place  in  our  Scriptures,  like  the  Hebrew  word  'Jehovah'  which  is 
recognized   by  all. 


208    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

2  The  Blessedness  of  the  Marriage  Supper      Ch.  19:9 

John  is  directed  by  the  angel  to  record  a  blessing 
upon  those  who  are  bidden  to  the  marriage  supper,  i.  e. 
who  are  invited  to  share  in  the  nearer  fellowship  of  thje 
redeemed  with  Christ,  and  to  partake  of  the  rich  and 
abundant  spiritual  food  that  awaits  them  in  the  new  re- 
lations of  the  heavenly  life — a  further  symbol  of  the 
spiritual  union  of  the  church  with  Christ  added  to  that 
of  the  bride  and  the  marriage,  setting  forth  the  joys  of 
the  heavenly  life  under  the  familiar  figure  of  a  mar- 
riage feast,  the  great  social  event  of  the  East, 
and  the  popular  type  of  the  highest  enjoyment,  as  well  as 
the  public  acknowledgement  of  the  consummation  of  the 
union.  The  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  put  in  vivid  contrast 
with  the  fornication  of  the  Harlot,  in  the  usual  method  of 
the  Apocalypse. 

3  Worship  Refused  by  the  Angel  Ch.  19 :10 

The  Apostle  is  so  overwhelmed  by  the  impression 
of  the  vision  that  he  falls  at  the  feet  of  the  angel  to  wor- 
ship him — probably  the  interpreting  angel  of  the  open- 
ing verse  of  the  book,  though  some  think  identical  with 
the  vial-angel  of  chapter  seventeen;  but  the  worship  is 
refused,^  because,  as  the  angel  declares,  he  is  only  a 
fellow- servant  with  John,  and  shares  in  'the  testimony 
of  Jesus'  which  'is  the  spirit  of  prophecy'.  This  signif- 
icant phrase  is  characteristic  of  the  Revelation,^  and  we 
find  in  it  a  key  to  the  general  interpretation,  a  principle 
to  be  applied  throughout,  viz.  that  the  mysteries  of  the 
Old  Dispensation  find  their  only  proper,  solution  and 
fulfilment  in  the  clearer  teaching  of  the  New.  'The 
testimony  of  Jesus'  is  the  witness  for  the  truth  borne 
hy  Christ  in  the  world,  which  gathers  up  into  one  and 
gives  expression  to  the  essential  and  animating  thought 
of  all  prophecy.  Others  interpret  the  passage  as 
applying  to  the  witness  borne  for  Christ  and  the  truth 
by  his  disciples  in  the  world ;  and  it  is  possible  that  both 
meanings  are  included,  for  if  broadly  interpreted  they 
both  merge  into  one.^ 

^'It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  we  have  in  this  incident  (which  is 
repeated  in  ch.  22.8)  a  protest  against  the  incipient  worship  of  angels  which 
was  creeping  into  the  church.'   Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  275. 

2'The  booli  is  filled  with  echoes  of  prophecy — mystic  words  through  which 
break  memories  of  the  past — that  only  attain  their  full  significance  through  the 
more  perfect  teachings  of  Christ.'  Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib. 

''The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  sum  of  the  revelation  made  by  him,  the 
holding  of  which  is  so  often  in  this  booli  the  sign-manual  of  the  saints.  . .  .That 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    209 

C     The  Last  Things  Ch.  19:11— 20:15 

A  new  phase  of  the  vision  of  victory  now  opens, 
which  presents  the  final  culmination  and  crisis  of  judg- 
ment and  redemption,  a  rapid  preview  of  the  closing 
events  of  human  history,  a  forecast  of  the  triumph  and 
completion  of  the  gospel  age.  These  events  form  a 
series  of  climaxes  that  are  progressive  and  catastrophic, 
and  usher  in  the  final  consummation  of  God's  world- 
plan  of  the  ages,  a  feature  that  is  prominent  in  all 
apocalyptic  writings. 

It  is  important  for  us  to  note  afresh  at  this  point, 
what  should  be  apparent  to  our  minds  in  the  study  of 
the  book  throughout,  viz.  that  the  element  of  climax, 
which  enters  so  largely  into  the  thought  of  the  Revela- 
tion, belongs  essentially  to  the  mood  and  temper  of 
Apocalyptic;  and  we  should  avoid  emphasizing  too 
much  that  which  pertains  chiefly  to  literary  form  and 
spiritual  mood,  as  though  it  were  intended  to  set  forth 
the  intimate  nature  of  the  divine  method.  Upon  care- 
ful reflection  it  must  become  more  and  more  apparent 
that  the  emphasis  here  laid  upon  the  climactic  side  of 
the  divine  way  of  working,  was  only  intended  to  be  in 
proportion  to  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  the  his- 
torical outlook  without  such  manifest  and  repeated 
divine  interpositions  for  human  help,  and  was  not  in- 
tended to  indicate  that  the  chief  effects  to  be  wrought 
out  will  be  accomplished  by  other  than  the  method  dis- 
played in  history,  viz.  by  long  periods  of  quiet  progress 
and  patient  waiting,  broken  now  and  then  by  short  and 
decisive  periods  of  crisis.  The  apocalyptic  writers  fol- 
lowed the  general  mode  of  conception  prevalent  in  the 
Old  Testament,  according  to  which  'the  final  condition 
of  men  and  the  world  is  regarded  less  as  the  perfect 
issue  of  a  gradual  ethical  advancement. . .  .than  as  the 
result  of  an  interposition  or  chain  of  interpositions  on 
the  part  of  GodV  which  is  only  one  side  of  the  truth — a 
view  growing  out  of  their  idea  of  God  as  the  immediate 
author  of  all  movements  in  nature  and  history,  and  fit- 
ting in  well  with  the  increased  emphasis  laid  upon 
climax  in  Apocalyptic.  There  is  also  a  distinct  fore- 
shortening of  the  future  which  is  very  evident  through- 
deposit  of  truth  rather  than  deny  which  Christians  were  prepared  to  die... The 
testimony  of  Jesus  thus  becomes  in  turn  the  burden  of  his  servants'  testimony.' 
Scott,   New   Cent.  Bib.,    Rev.,   p.    275f. 

^Davidson,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  art.   'Eschatology.' 


210    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

out  this  section,  and  this  is  a  well  known  and  character- 
istic feature  of  all  prophecy.  The  extreme  brevity  with 
which  are  described  and  grouped  together  so  many 
great  events  of  the  far  future  that  so  deeply  affect  the 
Christian  hope,  serves  to  indicate  that  the  chief  aim  of 
the  Revelation  does  not  consist  in  fully  manifesting 
these  events  which  lie  hidden  in  the  hand  of  God,  but  in 
preparing  the  church  for  what  precedes  them,  both  of 
trial  and  of  conflict.  'Like  a  flash  of  lightning  in  the 
darkness  the  vision  lights  up  the  whole  line  of  God's 
purposes  to  the  end';  but  how  much  of  the  actual  form 
and  manner  of  the  events  it  was  the  divine  purpose  to 
disclose  through  this  ideal  and  scenic  presentation  must 
continue  to  be,  pending  the  manifestation  of  the  events 
themselves,  to  some  extent  at  least,  a  matter  of  diverse 
opinion. 

1     The  End  of  the  Holy  War  Ch.  19 :11— 21 

This  part  of  the  vision  sets  forth  the  final  victory 
over  all  the  powers  of  this  world  which  is  eventually  to 
be  attained  by  the  supreme  power  of  'The  Word  of 
God',  the  ever  conquering  Christ,  who  is  here  described 
by  this  transcendental  name  for  our  Lord  which  is  a  dis- 
tinctive title  with  the  Apostle  John.^  Beginning  with 
a  view  of  the  triumphant  Word  going  forth  to  conquer 
as  under  the  first  seal  (ch.  6:2),  Christ  appears  in  the 
opened  heaven  riding  on  a  white  horse;  he  is  called 
'Faithful  and  True',  and  in  righteousness  he  doth 
judge  and  make  war.  His  eyes  are  a  flame  of  fire,  the 
type  of  purity  and  judgment;  upon  his  head  are  many 
diadems,  the  crowns  of  conquered  nations;  he  hath  a 
name  written  which  no  man  knoweth  but  himself, — evi- 
dently the  'new  name'  of  chapter  three  (v.  12)  which 
John  cannot  interpret;  and  he  is  arrayed  in  a  garment 
sprinkled  with  blood,  the  token  of  his  redemptive  work. 
The  armies  of  heaven,  which  apparently  include  the  re- 
deemed, such  as  have  already  entered  there,  follow  him 

^'The  Word'  as  a  name  for  Jesus  here  introduced,  though  it  occurs  but  once 
in  the  book,  is  used  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament  only  by  .Tohn  (Jn.  1.1  and 
1.14;  I  Jn.  1.1),  and  seems  to  point  to  the  Johannine  authorship  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. The  Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ  used  the  Greek  term  Xoyof'The  Word', 
as  a  name  for  a  class  of  phantasmal  beings  whom  they  regarded  as  existing 
between  God  and  man,  and  through  whom  God  was  supposed  to  speak ; 
for  to  their  thought.  God  was  so  exalted  and  transcendent  that  he  could  not 
speak  directly  to  men.  But  John  uses  'The  Word'  as  a  personal  name  for  Jesus 
who  is  both  God  and  man,  and  through  whom  God  has  indeed  spoken,  thus 
bringing  God  near  to  men  and  revealing  his  truth  and  love.  John  took  their 
own  term  and  gave  it  a  new  application  and  a  real  meaning,  and  thereby 
furnished  a  new  thought  of  Christ  as  the  revealer  of  God.  Cf.  Thayer's  Or. 
Lex.  of  New  Test.;  and  Burton  and  Mathews'  Life  of  Christ,  pp.  17-18. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    211 

on  white  horses,^  clothed  in  fine  linen  white  and  pure; 
out  of  his  mouth  proceedeth  a  sharp  sword  that  with  it 
he  should  smite  the  nations,^  for  he  shall  rule  them  then 
with  a  rod  of  iron;  and  he  treadeth  the  winepress  of 
the  wine  of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  God,  the  Al- 
mighty, thereby  bringing  punishment  upon  the  evil.  His 
divine  right  is  clearly  seen,  for  he  hath  on  his  garment 
and  on  his  thigh  (i.  e.  both  on  the  garment  and  on  the 
thigh,  or  else  on  the  garment  covering  the  thigh),  a 
name  written,  'King  of  Kings^  and  Lord  of  Lords'. 
And  the  Beast,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  their 
armies,  are  gathered  together  to  make  war  against  him 
that  sat  upon  the  horse  and  against  his  army,  i.  e. 
against  Christ  and  his  kingdom  to  attempt  to  overcome 
them.  Thus  with  sublime  imagery  the  vision  leads  up 
and  on  to  the  close  of  the  great  battle  with  the  world- 
forces,  which  was  briefly  described  before  in  chapter 
sixteen  as  occurring  at  Har-Magedon ;  the  war  is  the 
same,  the  battle  between  the  sinful  world  and  the  hosts 
of  God  which  is  ever  going  on  through  the  ages  to  final 
victory  in  the  end.  Now,  by  a  further  view,  the  Beast, 
and  the  False  Prophet  (or  Second  Beast)  who  mis- 
guides the  people  in  spiritual  things,  are  seen  to  be 
taken,  and  they  twain  are  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire, 
while  all  their  followers  are  slain  with  the  sword  of  him 
that  sat  upon  the  horse,  even  the  sword  which  came 
forth  out  of  his  mouth  (v.  15) ;  and  all  the  birds  that  fly 
in  mid-heaven  are  called  by  an  angel  standing  in  the  sun 
to  feed  upon  their  flesh,  as  in  Ezekiel's  prophecy  of  the 
Judgment  of  Gog  (ch.  39:17-22),  a  judgment  exceed- 
ingly repulsive  to  the  Hebrew  mind.  The  lake  of  fire  is 
only  a  more  fully  developed  form  of  the  Jewish  concep- 
tion of  Gehenna  as  a  furnace  of  fire  (Mat.  13:42,  and 
50).  The  symbolism  here  used  may  have  been  sug- 
gested to  John's  mind  by  the  appearance  of  a  sea  or 
lake  during  the  eruption  of  a  volcano,  a  view  not  un- 
familiar to  those  resident  in  Asia,"  This  lake  in  the  Reve- 
lation is  the  place  of  final  punishment  of  the  wicked,  and 
is  clearly  distinguished  from  the  pit  of  the  abyss,  the 
abode  of  Satan  during  the  present  world-period.     Thus 

I'John  takes  us  to  the  unseen  and  heavenly  side  of  things,  and  we  see  the 
hosts  of  God  marshalling  themselves  in  defence  of  His  vv^eaiv  and  persecuted 
people,  God  Himself  standing  within  the  shadow,  'Keeping  watch  above  His 
own'.'  Humphries,  8t    John  and  Other  Teachers,  p.  105. 

='The  word  of  Messiah's  mouth  is  the  sole  weapon  of  his  victory.'  Moffatt, 
Exp.   Or.   Test.,   Rev.,   p.   468. 

^Bib.  Com.,  p.   607. 


212    STUDIES  in  fhe  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

is  signified  the  triumphant  overthrow  of  the  World- 
Power  and  of  the  World-Religion  as  manifested  in  his- 
tory. These  together  with  the  World-City  are  now 
broken  and  destroyed,  while  only  the  World-Lord,  or 
Satan,  remains  to  carry  on  the  conflict,  and  the  way  is 
thereby  prepared  for  the  great  millennial  victory. 

This  section  is  considered  by  many  to  refer  to 
Christ's  second  coming,  the  Paronsia,  and,  if  that  view 
were  established,  it  would  serve  to  support  the  opinion 
of  those  who  hold  that  the  second  advent  will  be  pre- 
millennial;  but  such  an  interpretation  is  beset  with 
many  difficulties  and  cannot  be  sustained  by  what  is  said 
in  these  verses.  The  description  does  not  correspond 
with  the  account  of  Christ's  coming  again  which  is  given 
in  the  Synoptic  Gospels  and  the  Epistles,  nor  with  the 
passing  foregleams  of  it  in  the  preceding  chapters,  but 
rather  with  the  delineation  of  Christ's  conflict  with  the 
world  as  it  is  set  forth  in  this  book,  which  is  depicted  in 
its  beginnings  under  the  first  seal  where  Christ  goes 
forth  conquering  and  to  conquer,  and  which  is  now  seen 
to  pass  through  the  thick  of  battle  to  the  crowning  of 
victory.  For  while  the  second  coming  is  manifestly  the 
one  great  objective  event  ever  retained  in  the  back- 
ground of  the  visions,  overshadowing  and  interpene- 
trating every  part  of  the  Apocalypse,  yet  it  is  at  no  time 
definitely  introduced  or  particularly  described;  and  the 
most  accurate  and  impartial  interpretation  throughout 
is  that  which  regards  both  the  time  of  its  occurrence  and 
the  position  it  occupies  in  relation  to  other  events  of 
the  last  days  as  nowhere  revealed  in  the  Apocalyptic 
vision.  With  the  present  author  this  view  has  grown 
through  time  from  that  of  a  possible  solution  of  a  much 
vexed  question  into  a  settled  conviction  of  its  correct- 
ness.^ And  it  should  be  seen,  that  with  this  section 
(eh.  19:11 — 21)  in  grave  doubt,  to  say  the  least,  concern- 
ing its  application  to  the  advent,  if  indeed  it  should  not 
be  regarded  as  entirely  inapplicable,  there  is  nothing 
definitely  taught  in  the  Revelation  in  regard  to  the  time 
of  Christ's  second  coming;  for  whatever  opinion  we 
may  entertain  concerning  the  time  of  that  glorious  event 
so  dear  to  the  Christian  heart,  we  cannot  regard  this 

'For  a  strong  confirmation  of  this  opinion  see  Stevens,  Heic  Test.  Theol., 
p.  555  ;  also,  supporting  ttie  same  view,  R.  D.  Wilson  in  unpublished  Princeton 
Clussroom  Lectures. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    213 

passage  as  decisive  in  the  matter  unless  we  interpolate 
into  it  a  meaning  which  it  does  not  necessarily  contain. 

2  Satan  Bound  Ch.  20:1— 3a 

The  temporary  destruction  of  Satan's  power  is  here 
indicated  by  his  being  bound  for  a  season;  and  this 
marks  another  advance  in  the  triumphal  march  of 
events.  An  angel  coming  down  from  heaven  with  the 
key  of  the  abyss,  and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand,  lays 
hold  upon  the  Dragon,  the  Old  Serpent,  Satan,  and  binds 
him  for  a  thousand  years,  and  then  shuts  him  up  in  the 
abyss,  his  present  dwelling-place,  from  which  he  can  now 
emerge  at  will  during  the  period  of  conflict,  and  seals  it 
over  him  that  his  power  may  be  restrained  until  the  end 
of  that  time.  The  binding  of  Satan  indicates  the  limit- 
ing of  his  authority  over  the  nations,  with  the  subse- 
quent ushering  in  of  the  triumph  of  the  gospel  among 
men,  when,  according  to  the  announcement  of  the  seventh 
trumpet,  'The  kingdom  of  the  world  is  become  the  king- 
dom of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ'  (ch.  11:15),  a 
promise  partially  fulfilled  at  this  stage,  but  awaiting  its 
complete  fulfilment  in  the  final  consummation.  The 
limiting  of  Satan's  power  is  a  preparatory  stage  to  the 
events  that  follow,  and  precedes  the  first  resurrection, 
as  it  also  precedes  the  millennium. 

3  The  First  Resurrection  Ch.  20 :4— 6 

The  resurrection,  which  is  the  effective  redemption 
of  the  body  from  death,  that  is  necessary  for  complete 
victory  over  sin  and  for  the  full  consummation  of  man's 
life  in  eternity,^  is  at  this  point  begun,^  and  is  marked  in 
the  Revelation  by  two  successive  stages,  the  first  accom- 
panying the  triumph  of  the  messianic  kingdom,  and  the 
second  preparatory  to  the  final  judgment.  These  two 
parts  of  the  resurrection  are  separated  in  the  vision  by 
the  whole  millennial  period.  The  first  resurrection  is 
special  and  compensative  (scil.  'the  resurrection  out  of 
the  dead' — Gr.  ex  vexpcov — Phil.  3:11),  consisting  of  cer- 

iThe  fact  of  the  resurrection  is  constantly  emphasized  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  it  is  entirely  unnecessary  for  us  to  Inquire  into  the  manner  of  the 
resurrection  for  that  is  nowhere  revealed.  It  is  quite  enough  for  us  to  know 
that  there  will  be  a  resurrection,  and  that  the  new  body  will  be  a  spiritual  body. 

2'Those  who  reject  the  idea  of  a  physical  resurrection  are  obliged  therefore 
to  think  of  a  resurrection  from  hades  to  heaven,  taking  place  at  the  close  of 
the  martyr  age,  and  introducing  those  who  are  thus  specially  honored  into  a 
state  of  heavenly  blessedness,  which  continues  till  the  close  of  human  history.' 
Brown,   art.    'Millennium',   Hastings'   Diet,   of  Bih.,   referring  to   Briggs'   view   in 

s.   of  Apost.,  p.  357. 


214    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

tain  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  who  by  reason  of  their 
enduring  resistance  of  the  forces  of  evil  in  their  lives 
and  deaths  are  adjudged  worthy  to  attain  unto  this 
resurrection,  viz.  'of  them  that  had  been  beheaded  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
such  as  worshipped  not  the  Beast,  neither  his  image, 
and  received  not  the  mark  upon  their  forehead  and  upon 
their  hand.'  The  first  resurrection  which  is  evidently 
limited  to  this  particular  class,  and  is  compensative  in 
character  for  evils  endured,  precedes  the  second  or 
general  resurrection  by  a  thousand  years,  or  the  whole 
duration  of  the  millennium,  which  is  not  a  definite, 
numerical  thousand  years,  but  in  accordance  with  the 
general  use  of  numbers  in  the  Apocalypse  is  a  period 
of  vast  but  indefinite  length.  The  cry  of  the  martyrs 
(ch.  6:9)  has  been  heard,  and  they  who  have  part  in 
this  resurrection  shall  live  and  reign  with  Christ 
throughout  the  whole  millennial  era,  i.  e.  shall  share  in 
his  presence  and  glory  as  a  reward  for  their  superior 
faithfulness,  shall  be  with  him  where  he  is,  evidently  in 
heaven,  for  nothing  is  said  of  any  new  or  different  rela- 
tion of  Christ  or  of  the  saints  to  those  who  dwell  upon 
the  earth  as  now  beg-un,  or  as  entered  upon  at  any  time 
during  this  period.  We  are  simply  told  that  the  re- 
deemed saints  shall  live  and  reign  with  Christ,  i.  e.  they 
shall  enter  upon  the  new  and  fuller  life  with  Christ 
which  follows  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  they 
shall  share  in  the  triumphant  rulership  of  Christ  in 
heaven.  The  main  thought  in  the  phrase  'with  Christ', 
it  will  be  seen,  is  not  so  much  that  of  location,  as  of 
association  with  him  in  messianic  rule.^  The  statement 
here  made  that  'they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of 
Christ'  (v.  6)  evidently  does  not  mean  that  they  are  to 
exercise  the  function  of  mediators  for  the  rest  of  man- 
kind during  that  intermediate  period, — for  no  such  serv- 
ice in  heaven  is  anywhere  taught  in  Scripture — ^but  only 
that  they  are  granted  familiar  access  to  and  fellowship 
with  God  and  Christ  such  as  the  priests  had  who  drew 
near  under  the  old  covenant;  they  stand  in  his  presence 
as  the  priests  of  old  stood  in  the  temple  and  waited  and 
served  and  worshipped. 

^Por  the  use  of  /lera  with  the  genitive,  see  Thayer's  Oreek-English  Lex.  of 
New  Test. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    215 

4     The  Millennium  Ch.  20.  2b,  3b,  4b,  5a,  6b  and  7a 

The  millennium  is  the  Latin  equivalent  of  the  Greek 
phrase  xiK^a  eir],  or  a  thousand  years,  which  has 
now  attained  a  permanent  place  in  Christian  thought. 
In  the  prophetic  view  of  the  apocalyptic  vision  this  is 
the  crowning  period  of  the  church  upon  earth  so  long 
looked  for  and  foretold,  the  triumphant  realization  of 
messianic  prophecy,  the  denouement  of  redemptive  his- 
tory in  the  world,  a  time  of  rest  and  victory  when  evil 
shall  be  restrained  though  not  extinguished,  and  right- 
eousness shall  rule  among  men.  The  millennial  reign 
of  the  saints  with  Christ,  while  Satan  is  limited  in  his 
sphere,  as  is  indicated  by  his  being  bound  with  a  great 
chain,  is  evidently  intended  to  represent  the  period  of 
the  church's  triumph.  The  length  of  time  implied  by 
the  millennium  is  a  period  of  multiple  completeness 
which  is  represented  by  a  thousand,  the  cube  of  ten,  the 
symbol  of  a  duration  that  is  of  great  but  indefinite  ex- 
tent, covering  a  long  period  of  time,  stretching  to  untold 
generations,  during  which  the  rule  of  Christ  shall  be 
triumphantly  established  upon  the  earth.^  The  chief 
thought  in  the  thousand  years  is  doubtless  that  of  great 
and  enduring  victory.  This  period,  as  has  been  effec- 
tively said,  'may  well  be  of  such  an  indefinite  length  as 
to  lead  to  the  salvation  of  unnumbered  multitudes — 
multitudes  so  vast  and  countless  that  all  the  lost  of  all 
the  ages  will  be  but  an  infinitesimal  fraction  in  com- 
parison.'^ Such  a  view  serves  to  lighten  in  a  measure 
the  dark  places  of  Scripture  and  history  with  a  vision  of 
blessing  and  hope,  though  it  cannot  be  said  to  disperse 
to  any  great  extent  that  impenetrable  shadow  which 
hangs  over  God's  purpose  in  the  world's  long  deep  night 
of  sin  and  death. 

No  other  passage  in  the  New  Testament  has  taken 
a  deeper  or  more  permanent  hold  upon  the  minds  of  be- 
lieving men  than  this  pregnant  prophecy  of  a  millen- 
nium, in  which  the  thousand  years  is  six  times  named 
in  as  many  verses.  Unfortunately  interpreters  have  not 
been  agreed  concerning  the  meaning  of  the  passage;  in 
fact  no  part  of  the  Word  of  God  has,  perhaps,  been  so 
much  in  dispute  as  these  verses  in  the  Revelation.  It  may 

*'If  the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days  symbolize  the  duration  of  the 
triumph  of  heathenism,  the  thousand  years  as  clearly  symbolize  the  duration 
of  the  triumph  of  Christianity',   Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p.  263. 

=A.  A.   Hodge   in   unpublished   Classroom  Lectures. 


216    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

be  worth  while,  therefore,  to  say  that  in  the  interpreta- 
tion we  should  clearly  recognize  upon  the  one  hand  that 
the  promise  of  a  millennium  was  intended  to  create  in 
the  minds  of  men  a  pervasive  hope  of  ultimate  divine 
triumph  in  the  world;  while  upon  the  other  hand  we 
should  avoid  making  this  glorious  promise  the  ground- 
work of  purely  human  fancy.  The  blessings  of  the  mil- 
lennial period  here  set  forth  evidently  pertain  both  to 
the  saints  in  glory  and  to  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this 
world.  The  particular  nature  of  the  reign  of  the  saints 
with  Christ  during  the  thousand  years  is  not  revealed; 
but  we  know  assuredly  that  Christ  and  his  kingdom  have 
prevailed  upon  the  earth.  The  millennium  manifestly 
presents  a  natural  and  complete  antithesis  to  the  long 
period  in  which  the  church  suffered  oppression  under 
domination  of  the  world-powers.  The  part  allotted  to 
the  saints  in  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  in  which  they 
live  and  reign  with  Christ,  is  set  forth  in  terms  of  long 
prevailing  and  deeply  cherished  Jewish  ideals.  To  oc- 
cupy 'thrones  of  judgment'  was  part  of  the  recognized 
hope  of  Israel  (Ps.  122:5),  and  is  clearly  a  human  way 
of  conceiving  of  superhuman  relations.  That  this  hope 
is  to  be  realized  in  the  final  spiritual  supremacy  of 
Grod's  children,  specially  promised  to  the  twelve  of  the 
inner  circle  (Mat.  19:28;  and  Lu.  22:30),  and  evidently 
to  be  shared  in  a  particular  degree  by  all  those  who 
have  part  in  the  first  resurrection,  though  ultimately  in 
some  measure  also  by  all  the  redeemed,  does  not  admit 
of  serious  doubt,  but  the  exact  form  in  which  it  will  be 
realized  is  not  made  plain. 

According  to  the  usual  premillennial  view  the  first 
resurrection  is  interpreted  as  consisting  of  all  believers 
who  have  died  previous  to  that  time,  and  not  of  those 
only  who  share  in  it  by  reason  of  special  service  and 
testimony;  and  the  millennial  reign  of  those  who  rise 
from  their  graves  in  this  resurrection  is  held  to  be  upon 
the  earth,  and  is  to  be  ushered  in  by  the  second  coming 
of  Christ  who  will  establish  a  new  dispensation  in  which 
he  will  be  personally  manifest,  and  will  rule  in  the 
world,  either  from  an  earthly  capital  as  Jerusalem,  or 
from  heaven  in  close  communication  with  the  saints.^ 
This  view,  it  will  be  seen,  rests  upon  Jewish  conceptions, 
and  derives  its  support  from  a  sternly  literal  interpre- 

*For  a  more  complete  statement  of  the  premillennial  view  see  Faussett,   J. 
F.  &  B.  Com.  on  Rev.;  Seiss,  Lect.  on  Apoc;  and  Alford's  Or.  Test.,  in  loco. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    217 

tation  of  Old  Testament  prophecies.  But,  notwith- 
standing its  natural  attractiveness  to  the  minds  of  men, 
it  fails  of  adequate  confirmation  in  the  text.  Upon  the 
other  hand  most  of  the  symbolical  school  interpret  the 
first  resurrection  figuratively,  as  a  resurrection  to 
spiritual  life,  and  regard  the  millennium  as  now  in  prog- 
ress. The  prevalence  of  this  view  seems  to  be  largely 
due  to  the  early  influence  of  Aug-ustine,^  who  identified 
the  millennium  with  the  period  of  the  Christian  church 
on  earth,  and  held  that  for  those  who  belong  to  the  true 
church  the  first  resurrection  is  past  already,  making  it 
the  equivalent  of  the  resurrection  to  spiritual  life  spoken 
of  in  John's  Gospel  (Jn.  5:25), — a  passage  which, 
though  showing  that  a  spiritual  resurrection  is  a  dis- 
tinct Johannine  conception,  does  not  serve  to  break  the 
natural  force  of  these  words  in  their  present  connection. 
The  usual  interpretation  of  the  thousand  years  given 
by  the  symbolical  school  cannot  be  considered  as  satis- 
factory ,2  viz.  that  the  phrase  expresses  a  quality,  i.  e. 
completeness,  and  not  a  period  of  time;  and  that  the 
meaning  of  the  phrase  'bound  him  for  a  thousand 
years'  is  that  Satan  was  completely  bound.  The  sym- 
bolical use  of  the  number  one  thousand  is  evident,  but 
that  does  not  deprive  it  of  all  quantitative  value,  it  only 
affects  its  literal  significance;  and  the  denial  that  the 
word  'years'  has  any  reference  to  time  is  without 
proper  exegetical  support  and  must  be  rejected.^  Ac- 
cording to  the  current  symbolical  interpretation  the 
entire  passage  (ch.  20:1-10)  is  regarded  as  an  episode 
which  is  descriptive  of  the  complete  safety  and  spiritual 
deliverance  of  Christ's  people  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  the  age-long  conflict  ;^  and  thus  the  millennium 
as  a  period  of  triumph  and  blessedness  for  the  saints  on 
earth,  preceding  and  distinct  from  the  final  blessedness 
of  the  world  to  come,  fades  away  into  a  figure  of  speech, 
while  the  triumph  of  the  gospel  is  obscured.  But  this 
view  cannot  be  sustained  except  by  a  sacrifice  of  the 

^De  Civ.  Dei.  xx,  7-9.  For  the  prevalent  symbolist  view  see  Milligan, 
Expos.  Bih.,  and  Internat.  Com.;  Pliimmer,  Pulp.  Com.;  and  Lee,  Bib.  Com. 
Against  this  view  it  is  ably  contended  that  'the  interpretation  of  a  symbolic 
resurrection  (as  that  of  Israel  in  Ezekiel),  or  of  a  spiritual  resurrection  (as  in 
regeneration).  Is  rendered  untenable  by  the  explicit  reference  to  the  martyrs 
(cf.  ch.  6.9-11,  and  19.9).'  Brown  art,  'Millennium,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bii. 

-X  careful  study  of  this  view,  even  when  presented  by  so  eminent  a  com- 
mentator as  Plummer,  will  convince  most  readers  that  it  fails  to  properly  satisfy 
the  statements  of  the  text. 

«See  Dlisterdieck,  Meyer's  Com,,  on  Rev.,  pp.  463-4 ;  and  Brown  art.  'Mil- 
lennium',   Hastings'   Diet,  of  Bib.;   also,   most  late   authorities. 

^Purves,  art.  'Rev.',  Davis'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


218    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

natural,  if  we  may  not  certainly  say  the  correct  exe- 
gesis; for  the  paragraph  will  not  fit  a  purely  figurative 
interpretation.^  This  view  would  dispose  of  the  ques- 
tion of  a  pre-  or  post-millennial  coming  by  denying  that 
there  is  any  millennium,  in  the  historic  sense  of  the 
term,  taught  in  the  Revelation.  But  the  expedient  is  a 
fallacious  one,  if  John  spoke  as  a  prophet  by  the  in- 
spiration of  the  Spirit,  for  his  words  incorporated  the 
thought  of  his  time  in  which  the  millennium  had  a 
definite  meaning;  and  that  he  foresaw  and  described  it 
as  such  is  fairly  evident,  though  he  manifestly  modified 
its  extravagances.  The  idea  of  a  triumphal  period  of 
the  Messiah's  reign  is  too  deeply  inwrought  in  the 
Apocalyptic  literature  which  preceded  the  present 
Apocalypse  to  be  put  aside  lightly  as  a  symbol  of  com- 
pleteness.^ The  duration  of  this  time  was  a  frequent 
and  favorite  subject  of  Jewish  speculation;^  and  accord- 
ing to  the  general  laws  of  language,  the  phrase  used  in 
the  text,  'a  thousand  years',  necessarily  carries  with  it 
the  conception  of  a  period  of  time,  but  in  accordance 
with  the  usage  of  the  author,  it  loses  its  definite 
numerical  significance  and  indicates  a  period  of  long  but 
unmeasured  duration;  it  becomes  the  symbol  of  a 
period  that  is  complete. 

It  will  be  recognized  by  the  attentive  student  of  the 
Word  of  God  that  this  passage  and  its  connections  form 
the  crux  interpretum  of  the  whole  book  of  Revelation; 
and  it  is  well,  perhaps,  not  to  speak  with  too  much  posi- 
tiveness  on  a  subject  so  differently  understood  by  many 
of  the  most  eminent  scholars  and  interpreters.  The 
view  presented  above  seems  to  be  the  most  natural 
meaning  that  can  be  given  to  the  words  of  the  vision, 
and  seems  also  to  accord  more  fully  than  any  other  with 
the  many  promises  of  God  concerning  the  outcome  of  all 
that  great  and  progressive  movement  among  men  which 
we  call  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  in  the  earth.  For  with- 
out such  a  period  of  victory,  the  whole  evolutionary 
movement  in  human  life  and  history,  which  so  mani- 

^Salmond,  art.  'Eschatol,  of  New  Test'.,   Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 

=Cf.  //  E.sdr  7.  28-32  ;  and  Bk.  of  Enoch,  91-104  ;  also  the  Slavonic  Enoch, 
'in  which  occurs  the  first  mention  of  the  millennium',    (Charles). 

3'The  Talmud  has  no  fixed  doctrine  on  this  point,  but  the  view  most  fre- 
quently expressed  there  is  that  the  messianic  kingdom  will  last  for  a  thousand 
years  :  e.  g.  'In  six  days  God  created  the  world,  on  the  seventh  he  rested.  But 
the  day  of  God  is  equal  to  a  thousand  years  (Ps.  00.4).  Hence  the  world  will 
last  for  six  thousand  years  of  toil  and  labor  ;  then  will  come  a  thousand  years 
of  Sabbath  rest  for  the  people  of  God  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah.'  This 
idea  must  have  already  been  very  common  in  the  first  century  before  Christ.' 
Harnack,  art.   'Millennium',  Encyc.  Britan. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    219 

festly  marks  the  purpose  of  God  and  the  plan  of  re- 
demption, would  somehow  seem  to  fail  of  any  proper 
consummation;  while  in  this  view  the  millennium,  mark- 
ing the  triumph  of  the  gospel,  would  vindicate  the  pres- 
ent method  of  history  and  redemption,  just  as  the  pre- 
millennial  view  would  abandon  it  and  introduce  a  differ- 
ent order.  Indeed,  it  may  be  well  here  to  say,  what 
should  be  clearly  seen  by  every  student  of  the  Revela- 
tion, that  the  premillennial  view  introduces  practically 
three  dispensations  into  the  plan  of  redemption,  viz.  the 
first,  that  of  Moses  which  measurably  failed;  the  second, 
that  of  Christ  which  is  also  to  fail  of  complete  success; 
and  the  third,  that  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  shall  abso- 
lutely triumph.  Whether,  indeed,  such  a  view  is  justi- 
fied by  what  the  Glospels  teach  and  the  Epistles  indicate, 
is  a  question  that  each  interpreter  of  Scripture  must 
determine  for  himself;  though  it  must  be  said  that  the 
large  majority  of  Christians  in  all  ages  have  not  so 
understood  the  message  of  the  Word.  And  it  would 
certainly  be  remarkable  if  Christ,  who  was  so  wonderful 
a  teacher,  had  intended  to  predict  a  premillennial  com- 
ing to  his  own,  and  yet  left  it  in  such  an  indefinite  form 
that  the  majority  of  earnest  Christians  would  forever 
fail  to  apprehend  it.  But,  in  any  case,  to  give  up  the 
expectation  of  the  final  supremacy  of  the  gospel  in  the 
w^orld,  whether  we  look  for  it  to  be  attained  before  or 
after  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  through  the  method  of 
history  or  contrary  to  it,  is  to  empty  of  its  richest  con- 
tent the  Christian  hope  for  the  world  of  men,  and  to 
contradict  the  deepest  longing  of  the  pious  heart.^ 

5     Satan  Loosed  Again  and  Overthrown  Ch.  20:3c, 

and  7 — 10 

A  renewal  of  Satan's  activity  is  permitted  by  di- 
vine authority,  as  is  indicated  by  his  being  loosed  again 
out  of  his  prison,  and  seems  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a 
reaction  in  favor  of  evil,  a  sequence  for  which  we  are 
scarcely  prepared  at  this  juncture,  after  the  millennial 
period  of  Christian  ascendancy.  We  find  described  in 
these  verses  a  recrudescence  of  organized  opposition 
to  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  indicated  by  Satan  coming 
forth  again  out  of  the  abyss,  according  to  the  prevailing 

■•Fairbairn  On  Prophecy,  p.  450f. ;  also  Gloag's  Intr.  to  Johan.  Writings, 
ch.  on  'Millennium' ;  Stuart,  Com.  on  Apoc,  pp.  702-03  ;  and  many  other  author- 
ities. 


220    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

method  of  the  Apocalypse  by  which  evil  comes  in  periodic 
onsets.  In  the  elucidation  of  the  passage  most  interpret- 
ers, who  regard  the  millennimn  as  representing  the  tri- 
umphal period  of  Christ's  kingdom  upon  earth,  consid- 
er this  incident,  together  with  Satan's  previous  bind- 
ing without  the  complete  destruction  of  his  power  un- 
til the  end  when  he  is  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  as 
showing  conclusively  that  opposition  to  Christ  has  only 
been  subdued  during  the  millennial  period  but  not 
extinguished,  so  that  like  a  smouldering  fire  it  bursts 
forth  into  flame  again  before  the  end.^  It  can  scarcely 
be  denied  that  such  is  the  underlying  assmnption  of 
the  passage,  as  is  generally  conceded,  though  the  usu- 
al symbolist  view,  relying  upon  this,  minimizes  the 
character  of  the  millennial  triumph,  and  regards  the  op- 
position to  Christ  as  being  subdued  only  so  far  as  be- 
lievers are  concerned,  toward  whom  Satan  is  then  com- 
pletely bound,  the  millennium  and  the  conflict  going  on 
simultaneously — a  view  that  is  not  adequately  sustained 
by  the  text.  On  the  other  hand  the  futurist  view  mag- 
nifies the  nature  of  the  millennial  triumph,  and  leaves 
no  reasonable  room  for  this  final  outburst  of  sin;  for 
the  millennium  with  Christ  dwelling  among  his  people  up- 
on earth  is  heaven  already  begun,  and  the  Scriptures  no- 
where teach  either  the  continuance  of  evil  after  Christ's 
second  coming,  or  the  existence  of  an  interval  between 
Christ's  coming  and  the  judgment.  The  interpretation 
here  .given  is  accepted  by  many  modern  scholars  and 
follows  a  median  line,  regarding  the  millennium  as  a 
period  of  relative  triumph  followed  by  a  fresh  outbreak 
of  sin,  as  seems  to  be  indicated  in  this  passage.  If  we 
compare  these  verses  with  that  strange  apocalyptic 
passage  in  Paul's  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians 
(II  Thess.  2:3f.),  we  find  that  he  there  predicts  a  falling 
away  from  the  faith  and  the  coming  of  the  Man  of  Sin  be- 
fore the  advent,  which  seems  to  refer  in  the  figurative 
language  of  Apocalyptic  to  this  same  period  of  final 
struggle  preceding  the  end.  And  the  Man  of  Sin  there 
foretold  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  an  ideal  person- 
ification of  the  sin  of  man  then  prevailing,  'whom  the 
Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth'.  This 
last  struggle  is,  however,  only  for  a  little  time  (v.  3), 

I'That  the  world's  history  will  terminate  in  the  culmination  of  evil,  be- 
comes from  the  time  of  Daniel  a  permanent  factor  in  Jewish  Apocalyptic' 
Charles,  Eachatoloyy,  p.   121. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    221 

i.  e.  for  a  season  that  is  short  in  comparison  with  the 
millennial  period,  and  is  apparently  permitted  in  or- 
der to  bring  about  the  triumphal  termination  of  the  con- 
flict that  Satan  may  be  completely  and  forever  overthrown 
and  flung  into  the  lake  of  fire  (v.  10),  the  final 
place  of  punishment,  together  with  the  Beast  and  the 
False  Prophet  whose  destruction  has  been  already  de- 
scribed. 

Though  the  general  idea  of  the  paragraph  is  rela- 
tively plain,  the  particular  meaning  of  the  prediction 
is  involved  in  much  obscurity,  viz.  that  of  a  war  in 
which  Satan  deceives  the  nations  of  the  earth,  Gog 
and  Magog,^  whose  number  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea, 
and  who  go  up  under  his  leadership  to  compass  the 
camp  of  the  saints  and  the  beloved  city,  but  who  are  de- 
stroyed by  divine  intervention  through  fire  from  heav- 
en. The  description  is  evidently  symbolic,  and  Gog 
and  Magog  were  doubtless  not  intended  to  be  identified 
as  particular  nations;  nor  can  the  fulfilment  be  literal- 
ly understood.  Like  many  of  the  prophecies  of  the  past 
it  is  surrounded  by  a  haze  of  indefiniteness  that  pre- 
vents its  full  interpretation  until  its  meaning  is  re- 
vealed by  the  course  of  events.  The  source  of  the  sym- 
bolism is  found  in  the  Old  Testament  invasion  of  Gog,  a 
passage  in  Ezekiel  (ch.  38-39),  a  prophetic  scene  of  war, 
which  becomes  here  the  formal  type  of  the  last  struggle 
between  the  hosts  of  sin  and  those  of  righteousness,  and 
seems  to  refer  to  some  new,  national,  and  world-wide 
form  of  opposition  to  Christ  and  his  kingdom  in  which 
all  the  earth-forces  of  evil  are  gathered  together  for 
their  extinction — a  final  stage  of  the  conflict  necessary 
for  the  completeness  of  the  victory,  which  is  to  be  post- 
millennial,  and  in  which  all  the  powers  of  evil  shall  be 
speedily  and  finally  overthrown.^  It  may  also  be  that  the 
view  of  battle  here  given  is  intended  to  be  partly  retro- 

^'Jewish  tradition  makes  use  of  ttiese  names  to  indicate  those  nations  which 
are  expected  to  war  against  Jerusalem  in  the  last  days  and  to  be  overthrown 
by  the  Messiah.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  p.  473.  'In  later  Apocalyptic  literature 
these  are  conventional  symbols  for  the  world  hostile  to  Israel,  or  to  the  people 
of  God.'  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  284. 

-'The  whole  delineation  is  symbolic,  and  embodies  spiritual  truths  under 
material  emblems.'  Plumptre,  Pulp.  Com.,  Ezek.,  vol.  ii,  p.  306.  'The  Invasion 
of  Gog,  a  discourse  of  Ezekiel  which  stands  by  itself,  is  not  to  be  interpreted 
as  a  specific  prediction  of  an  historical  event,  nor  on  the  other  hand  as  merely 
a  parable ;  but  under  the  typical  names  of  Gog,  Meshech,  and  Tubal, — suggestive 
of  the  dimly  known  confines  of  the  earth — are  suggested  hostile  forces  however 
distinct,  which  after  the  many  days  of  a  future  however  prolonged,  may  be 
massed  in  opposition  to  a  purified  people  only  to  fall  in  the  holy  soil  by  a  de- 
struction from  on  high,  and  to  trouble  Israel  with  no  more  than  a  notable  bury- 
ing.' Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  Ezek.,  Intr.,  p.  xiii.  Also  cf.  Plumptre,  Pulp. 
Com.,  Ezek.,  chs.  38-39  ;  and  Fairbairn,  Ezek.  and  Book  of  his  Prophecy. 


222    STUDIES  in  tlie  BOOK  OF  REVELATION". 

spective  in  its  purpose,  and  to  link  this  struggle  with  the 
age-long  conflict  which  culminates  when  the  Beast  and  the 
False  Prophet  are  taken,  giving  another  view  of  Har- 
Magedon  in  which  now,  after  a  period  of  quiescence, 
Satan's  overthrow  forms  the  final  part. 

6    The  Second  Resurrection         Ch.  20 :11 — 12a,  and  13a 

This  is  the  final  and  complete  resurrection  which 
occurs  at  the  end  of  the  world,  and  comprises  all  those, 
whether  believers  or  not,  who  failed  to  participate  in 
the  first  resurrection.  The  completeness  of  this  resur- 
rection is  specially  emphasized.  Even  the  sea  gave  up 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  that  were  in  it;  and  death  and 
Hades  gave  up  the  souls  of  the  dead  that  were 
in  them  (v.  13a),  in  preparation  for  the  judgment. 
The  description  here  given  of  the  second  or  gen- 
eral resurrection,  it  will  be  seen,  presents  the  or- 
dinary view  of  Scripture,  while  that  of  the  first 
resurrection  introduces  a  new  and  different  conception, 
viz.  that  of  a  special  resurrection.  The  main  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  resurrections  may  be  regarded  as 
chiefly  one  of  order  rather  than  time,  though  the  pre- 
cedence of  the  first  in  point  of  time  is  also  in- 
cluded. In  each  case  a  resurrection  of  the  body 
is  meant,  but  the  first  is  partial  in  extent,  con- 
sisting of  a  particular  class,  while  the  second  is 
universal,  comprising  all  classes.^  The  paragraph, 
when  thus  interpreted,  affords  a  clearer  view  of  the 
resurrection  as  a  whole,  showing  its  proper  order  or 
sequence,  and  separating  into  two  main  parts  that  which 
is  mostly  regarded  in  the  New  Testament  in  its  entirety 
as  a  single  event  occurring  at  the  last  day.  In  fact 
the  doctrine  of  two  resurrections  taught  in  this  passage, 
and  the  clearness  with  which  the  resurrection  of  the 
wicked  for  judgment  is  set  forth,  together  constitute 
the  most  notable  contribution  of  the  Apocalypse  to  the 
eschatology  of  the  New  Testament;^  for  'whatever  may 
be  the  difficulties  involved,  and  however  they  may  be 
solved,  we  must  recognize  that  John  here  predicts  an 
anticipative  and  limited  resurrection  of  the  same  char- 

^See  Bleek.  Led.  on  Apoc.  p.  339  :  also  Alford.  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  Rev.,  p. 
732,  who  is  very  clear  and  convincing  as  to  the  literal  nature  of  both  resurrec- 
tions ;  and  Stuart,  Coin,  on  Apoc,  pp.  704-10.  with  Excur.  vi  in  same  volume. 

"See  Salmond,  art.  'Eschatology  of  New  Test.';  Hastings"  Diet,  of  Bib.;  and 
Bernard,  art.  'Resurrection'  in  same  work. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    223 

acter  as  the  general  resurrection  which  is  to  follow.'^ 
This  was  undoubtedly  the  thought  presented  to  John's 
mind  in  the  vision,  whether  we  attach  any  didactive  sig- 
nificance to  it  or  not,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  overlooked 
in  our  interpretation. 

At  this  point  it  may  be  not  amiss  to  say,  what  must 
be  apparent  to  every  careful  student  of  Scripture,  that 
it  was  not  the  divine  purpose  in  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion to  reveal  the  intimate  nature  or  detail  of  the  great 
events  which  lie  at  the  close  of  man's  history  on  the 
earth;  but  rather  to  give  a  general  outline  of  the  divine 
order,  which  would  serve  to  invigorate  our  faith  and 
stimulate  our  hope  in  the  onward  path  of  Christian  duty. 
And  while  it  is  for  the  most  part  fruitless  to  inquire 
particularly  concerning  that  which  is  not  clearly  re- 
vealed, at  the  same  time  the  general  bearing  of  this 
passage  should  not  be  allowed  to  escape  our  attention, 
for  it  is  one  of  the  most  significant  in  the  book  of 
Revelation,  and  we  may  well  pause  a  moment  to  con- 
sider its  proper  meaning.  We  have  here,  apparently, — 
if  one  may  offer  an  opinion  on  so  obscure  a  subject, — 
a  hint  that  the  resurrection  which  has  just  been  de- 
scribed as  occurring  in  two  periods,  first  and  second, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  a  process  rather  than  as  an  event 
that  is  single  and  separate  in  itself,  one  which  in  its  en- 
tirety covers  a  long  period  of  time,  and  is  to  be  ac- 
complished in  progressive  stages  in  which  the  righteous 
share  first  according  to  their  relative  worth — a  process 
which  is  apparently  marked  by  two  principal  periods 
that  are  specially  in  mind  in  the  description  before  us. 
In  the  light  of  this  view  it  may  be  well  to  recall  some 
of  the  events  in  the  Scripture  record  which  seem  to  sup- 
port it.  The  translation  of  Enoch  and  Elijah  in 
the  Old  Testament,  the  equivalent  of  an  inunediate  res- 
urrection, which  anticipated  the  victory  of  Christ  over 
death,  would  otherwise  be  an  unexplained  anomaly. 
But  according  to  this  interpretation  it  forms  a  part  of 
the  divine  order ;  their  resurrection  was  not  anomalous ; 
it  was  only  one  step  in  the  ever  progressive  plan  of 
the  ages.    The  mysterious  hiding,  too,  of  Moses'  grave 

'Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  282.  In  fact  this  view,  in  some  form,  finds 
a  place  with  many  modern  interpreters  who  do  not  accept  the  usual  symbolic 
interpretation  of  the  book.  Alford  with  his  accustomed  vigor  has  well  said, 
'If  in  such  a  passage  the  first  resurrection  may  be  understood  to  mean  spiritual 
rising  with  Christ,  while  the  second  means  literal  rising  from  the  grave,  then 
there  is  an  end  to  all  significance  in  language,  and  Scripture  is  wiped  out  as  a 
definite  testimony  to  anything.'  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  p.  732. 


224    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  BEVELATION. 

in  the  valley  of  the  land  of  Moah,  finds  an  adequate  ex- 
planation if  he  was  subsequently  translated  when  the  di- 
vine purpose  in  his  burial  was  accomplished — the  burial 
vindicating  the  divine  honor,  while  his  resurrection 
was  immediate  and  triumphant.  The  record,  also,  in 
the  closing  chapter  of  Daniel  (Dan.  12:1-3)  though  ob- 
scure, points  to  a  stage  in  the  resurrection  in  which  not 
all  but  many  shall  rise,  and  includes  as  well  those  who 
rise  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt,  though  no  in- 
dication of  the  time  when  this  will  occur  is  given  by 
the  prophet.  But  more  particularly  in  Matthew's  ac- 
count of  the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord  (Mat.  27:52-3),  we 
find  that  his  death  was  followed  not  only  by  the  rending 
of  the  veil  in  the  temple,  indicating  the  departure  of  the 
divine  glory,  but  that  'the  tombs  were  opened,  and  many 
bodies  of  the  saints  which  had  fallen  asleep  were 
raised,  and  coming  forth  out  of  the  tombs  after  his  res- 
urrection, they  entered  into  the  holy  city  and  appeared 
unto  many.'  It  is  a  weak  exegesis  that  interprets  their 
resurrection  as  merely  spectral,  or  as  only  temporary 
and  transient,  even  though  it  were  for  the  purpose  of 
witnessing  to  the  divinity  of  our  Lord.  The  natural 
meaning  is  that  they  arose  as  a  part  of  the  victory  of 
Christ,  and  were  ready  to  enter  with  him  into  the  rest 
that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.  These  passages 
all  seem  to  point  to  a  progressive  resurrection  that  is 
to  be  accomplished  in  successive  stages,  and  they  cannot 
well  be  otherwise  interpreted  except  by  indirection. 
It  is  true  that  the  subject  is  only  incidentally  touched 
upon  in  the  New  Testament,  yet  it  seems  to  be  here 
clearly  implied  that  precedence  in  resurrection  is  divinely 
accorded  to  those  who  are  prepared  for  it,  as  a  part 
of  the  reward  of  righteousness,  and  that  this  belongs 
to  the  divine  order.^  Beyond  this  we  cannot  safely  go, 
for  it  is  not  well  to  be  too  confident  in  maintaining  any 
view  that  depends  so  largely  upon  the  interpretation  of 
single  passages,  even  though  the  inference,  as  in  this 
case,  seems  to  be  natural  and  conclusive. 

7    The  Last  Judgment  Ch.  20:11— 15 

The  final  divine  inquiry  into  the   sum  and  fruit- 
age of  each  and  every  life,  which  is  retributive  in  its 

^'No  part  of  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament  has  been  so  inadequately 
developed  by  the  church  as  that  pertaining  to  Eschatology.'  A.  A.  Hodge  in  un- 
published Classroom  Lectures. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    225 

purpose,  is  entered  into  at  the  end  of  the  world  when 
all  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God  to  be 
judged,  after  the  resurrection  is  complete.^  The  great 
judgment  throne  in  the  vision  is  white,  the  symbol  of 
purity,  and  he  that  sat  upon  it  is  not  named,  but  through- 
out the  book  the  judge  is  the  Father  as  distinguished 
from  the  Son.  The  two  principles  of  the  judg-ment  given 
in  this  graphic  account,  which  is  a  reflection  of  the  Vi- 
sion of  Judgment  in  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  (Dan.  7 
and  12),  are  first  'according  to  their  works'  which  are 
written  in  the  books  of  record  that  are  now  open;  and 
second  according  to  the  divine  purpose  which  is  'writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  life'.  The  'book  of  life'  was  originally 
the  name  used  for  the  roll  of  Jewish  citizens  kept 
from  at  least  the  ninth  centurv  before  Christ  (cf.  Ezr. 
2:62;  Neh.  7:5,  64;  and  12:22,  23)  from  which  the  names 
of  the  dead  were  erased,  that  is  now  applied  to  the 
Lamb's  book  of  life  (ch.  21:27),  the  roll  of  living  citi- 
zens of  the  New  Jerusalem.^  Those  not  found  in  the 
book  of  life  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  together  with 
death  and  Hades,  both  of  which  are  now  merged  into 
this  final  and  fitting  retribution  for  sin,  i.  e.  physical 
death  as  experienced  by  men  in  this  world,  and  Hades  the 
abode  of  the  dead  during  the  intermediate  state,  are 
both  abolished  as  temporary  conditions  in  preparation 
for  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth  of  the  righteous, 
and  are  succeeded  by  the  lake  of  fire  for  the  sinful. 
This  is  the  last  event  of  time,  the  issue  of  the  earthly 
life,  the  End^  foretold  by  prophecy,  the  crisis  that  marks 
the  transition  to  eternity,  the  closing  scene  in  the  great 
drama  of  human  history.  The  view  now  passes  at  once 
from  this  scene  of  terror  and  judgment  to  the  sublime 
vision  of  joy  and  triumph  in  the  far  and  fadeless  glory 
beyond. 

I'There  is  a  stern  simplicity  about  the  whole  description,  and  just  enough 
pictorial  detail  is  given  to  make  the  passage  morally  suggestive.'  Moffatt,  Eaep. 
Ur.  Test.,  Rev.,  p.  477.  For  Apocalvptic  conceptions  of  the  judgment,  see  Bk 
nf  Enoch,  .51.1f. ;  91.15f. ;  II  Esdr.  7.32f.  ;and  Test,  of  XII  Patriarchs,  Judah  25 , 
Benjamin   10. 

^See  DUsterdieck,  Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  165  ;  also  Scott,  New  Cent.  Bii., 
Rev.,  p.  151,  who  says,  'This  idea  of  a  book  kept  in  heaven  plays  a  great  part 
in  Jewish  Apocalyptic  literature,  in  which  it  is  developed  to  include  the  deeds  as 
well  as  the  names  of  God's  people  in  the  heavenly  record.'  The  passage  before 
us,  however,  evidently  keeps  the  two  separate,  for  the  book  of  life  is  distinguished 
from  the  books  of  record,  and  is  mentioned  seven  times  in  the  Revelation,  in- 
dicating that  it  held  an  important  place  in  the  Apocalyptist's  thought. 

*The  time  of  the  End  is  God's  secret,  but  the  fact  of  the  End  is  clearly 
revealed  as  the  point  toward  which  all  history  tends. 


226    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


VII     The  Vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem  (A  Vision  of 
Triumph)  Ch.  21:1—22:5 

The  vision  of  the  New  Jernsalem  is  a  crowning  pic- 
ture of  redemption  consummated,  a  vision  of  triumph 
and  peace  after  the  conflict  is  over  and  the  victory  won, 
portraying  the  eternal  bliss  of  the  redeemed  in  the  im- 
mediate presence  of  God,  whose  glory  is  realized  in  the 
intimate  fellowship  and  ultimate  well-being  of  his 
creatures  that  have  been  finally  recovered  from  sin  and 
fully  confirmed  in  righteousness.  In  this  closing  vision  of 
the  Revelation  we  reach  the  goal  of  Christian  hope  in 
the  future  life  with  God.  Some  future-historical  in- 
terpreters have,  however,  regarded  this  section  as  de- 
scribing the  millennial  glory  upon  earth,  precediug  the 
final  consummation  of  all  things;  but  the  view  is  in- 
volved in  so  many  difficulties  that  relatively  few  have 
accepted  it.  On  the  contrary  the  Christian  mind  of  all 
ages  has  instinctively  found  in  the  vision  a  perspec- 
tive view  of  the  heavenly  glory,  an  opinion  that  it  may 
be  confidently  said  is  not  a  mistaken  one.^  The  New  Jeru- 
salem presents  the  resultant  condition  of  victory  fol- 
lowing the  long  struggle  against  sin,  '  the  world  to  come ' 
already  ushered  in,  which  lies  beyond  the  millennium 
and  the  resurrection.  At  this  point  it  may  be  well  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  millennium  in  He- 
brew thought  is  the  culmination  of  'the  age  to  come', 
i.  e.  the  age  which  is  the  triumphing  period  of  the  Mes- 
siah upon  earth;  whereas  the  New  Jerusalem  is  the 
realization  of  'the  ivorld  to  come',  i.  e.  of  the  world 
that  is  future  and  eternal.  These  ideas  were  quite 
distinct  in  Jewish  thought,  and  they  ought  also  to  be 
distinct  with  us.  The  wonderful  account  of  the  new 
heaven  and  the  new  earth  speaks  of  other  conditions 
than  those  of  the  present  time ;  and  the  view  of  the  glori- 
ous city  in  this  closing  vision  (ch.  21:2 — 22:5)  is  aptly 
divisible  into  eight  parts,  the  symbol  of  culmination,  or 
of  a  new  life  or  period  begun,  the  division  indicated  in 
the  comments  that  follow. 

1     The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth  Ch.  21 :1 

In  this  verse  we  are  presented  with  a  view  of  the 

^Alford  places  ch.  21.1-22.5  subsequent  to  the  millennium  and  the  final 
judgment,  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  p.  736 ;  and  Faussett,  who  also  holds  the  premil- 
lennial  view,  aptly  says,  'Now  is  the  church  ;  in  the  millennium  will  be  the 
kingdom  ;  and  after  that  the  new  world  wherein  God  shall  be  all  in  all'.  J.  F. 
&  P..  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  640. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    227 

PxGW  creation  which  environs  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  sign 
of  the  changed  and  exalted  conditions  of  future  existence 
which  await  those  that  are  Christ's,  the  creation  redeemed 
as  well  as  the  creature,  'for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first 
earth  are  passed  away',  and  all  things  have  become 
new.^  This  idea,  which  coincides  with  that  of  Paul  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (ch.  8:19-23),  is  not,  however, 
further  developed,  but  the  view  turns  at  once  to  the 
heavenly  city,  for  the  vision  has  its  proper  center  in 
the  city,  and  is  designed  to  present  a  view  of  redeemed 
humanity  in  the  presence  of  God  to  which  that  of  the  re- 
deemed creation  is  merely  incidental. 

2     The  Holy  City  Ch.  21:2— 22:5 

Heaven,  its  joys  and  its  inhabitants,  is  described 
under  the  type  of  a  city,  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  coun- 
terpart of  the  Old  whose  warfare  has  been  accom- 
plished, a  civic  and  social  dwelling-place  that  is  new, 
holy,  and  glorious,  an  ideally  perfect  city  in  the  midst 
of  an  ideally  perfect  world  ;^  the  symbol  of  the  glori- 
ous conditions  of  the  redeemed  and  purified  church  in 
the  midst  of  the  new  life  of  eternity,  and  the  antithesis 
of  Babylon,  the  type  of  the  old  sinful  and  polluted 
world.  The  description  is  full  of  echoes  from  the  Isaian 
rhapsody  of  Zion  Redeemed  (Isa.  54,  60,  and  65), 
and  Ezekiel's  vision  of  Jerusalem  Restored  (Ezek.  40 
and  48).=^ 

(1)     The  Tabernacle  of  God  with  Men  Ch.  21:3—4 

The  city  in  its  entirety  becomes  the  antitype  of  the 
tabernacle  of  Israel,  especially  of  the  inner  sanctuary 
or  holy  of  holies,  where  God  forever  dwells  with  men, 
and  they  shall  be  his  peoples,^  and  sorrow,  pain,  and  death 
shall  be  no  more,  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away. 

I'The  biblical  doctrine  of  salvation  reaches  its  climax  in  the  conception  of 
the  redemption  of  the  universe.'  Brown,  art.  'Salvation,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 
'The  fact  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  here  spoken  of  are  new,  does  not  imply 
that  they  are  now  first  brought  into  being.  They  may  be  the  old  heavens  and 
the  old  earth  ;  but  they  have  a  new  aspect  and  a  new  character  adapted  to  a 
new  end.'  Milligan,  Expos.  Bih.,  Rev.,  p.  362  ;  also  Internat.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.   151. 

2'The  description  of  the  heavenly  city  is  probably  the  most  magnificent 
passage  in  all  Apocalyptic  literature.  ..  .It  is  an  ideal  pictorially  described,  a 
symbolic  picture  of  the  better  day  seen  in  prophetic  vision,  and  cherished  with 
persistent  hope  and  trust.'  Stevens,  Neiv  Test.  Theol..  p.  562.  'The  Revelator 
used  a  redeemed  city  to  symbolize  heaven — the  Kingdom  fully  come.'  Strong , 
Challenge  of  the  City,  p.  199.  That  heaven  as  an  actual  city  is,  of  course,  only 
a  dream  of  the  baldest  realism. 

^Moulton,  Mod.  Read.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  215. 

^'The    plural    'peoples'    seems    to   point   to   the  catholic  nature  of   the   New 
Jerusalem,    which    embraces    many    nations    (cf.    v.    24).'    Plummer,    Pulp.    Com 
Rev.,  p.  510. 


228    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

This  is  authoritatively  declared  by  a  voice  out  of  the 
throne,  a  divine  message,  possibly  given  by  one  of  the 
Angels  of  the  Presence,  as  a  comforting  and  assuring 
promise  of  the  divine  nearness  and  guardianship  in 
the  future  life  of  God's  people. 

(2)  The  Bride,  the  Lamb's  Wife  Ch.  21 :2,  9-10 

The  city,  the  dwelling-place  of  the  redeemed,  and  the 
symbol  of  the  new  conditions  of  the  glorified  church  in 
the  midst  of  eternity,  becomes  now  by  metonymy  the 
symbol  of  the  redeemed  church  herself,  the  Bride  of 
Christ,  the  inhabitants  being  thought  of  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  else.  The  great  city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  is  seen  com- 
ing down  out  of  heaven  from  God,^  as  a  bride  adorned 
for  her  husband  on  her  marriage  day, — a  figure  of  the 
intimate  and  tender  relation  of  Christ  with  his  people 
in  the  final  state  of  the  blessed.  The  city  in  these  verses 
(9-10)  is  manifestly  the  symbol  of  the  church  that  dwells 
within  it;  but  the  view  that  makes  the  New  Jerusalem 
the  symbol  solely  of  the  redeemed  church,  not  only  here 
but  throughout  the  entire  passage,-  fails  to  realize  the 
flexibility  of  prophetic  usage.  The  idea  of  place  and 
local  surroundings  in  the  general  description  of  the  city 
undoubtedly  stands  first  in  the  Apocalyptist's  thought, 
and  would  seldom  be  questioned  by  the  ordinary  reader, 
though  it  includes  also  the  inhabitants  as  well,  and 
may  be  used  for  the  inhabitants  alone,  as  is  done  in 
this  part  of  the  passage,  without  invalidating  the  gen- 
eral meaning.  In  the  ninth  verse,  with  the  announcement 
of  the  angel,  'Come  hither,  I  will  show  thee  the  bride, 
the  wife  of  the  Lamb',  the  account  in  verse  second  is 
resumed,  and  is  wrought  out  in  detail.  One  of  the  vial- 
angels  carries  John  away  in  the  Spirit  into  a  mountain 
great  and  high  that  he  may  see  the  vision  more  fully, 
an  indication  of  its  importance. 

(3)  The  City  of  New  Things  Ch.  21 :5— 8 

All  things  are  declared  new  and  changed,  and  to 
be  the  inheritance  of  those  that  shall  overcome,^  to  whom 

>Tho  idea  of  a  New  Jerusalem  coming  down  from  heaven  is  a  familiar  one 
In  Jewish  Apocalypses.  Cf.  Bk  of  Enoch,  90.28,  and  29,  note  by  Charles  ;  also 
//  Esdr.  7.  26 ;  and  Apoc.  of  Bar.  32.  2. 

=As  Milligan,  Expos.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  368 ;  Scott,  however,  says,  'Though  de- 
scribed as  a  city,  it  is  really  the  figure  of  a  people,  and  the  'condition  localized' 
in  which  they  dwell.'  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,   p.  287. 

^He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  these  thinc/s  (v.  6),  i.  e.  tlio  promises 
just  enumerated.  These  words  show  the  reason  for  the  words  of  ver.  6  ;  and 
may  be  called  the  text  on  which  the  Apocalypse  is  based  ;  for  though  the  words 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    229 

also  the  fulness  of  divine  sonship  is  awarded;  but  the 
craven  and  unbelieving,  the  sinful  and  impure,  shall  be 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  which  is  the  second  death. 
These  words  of  authority,  promise,  and  threatening,  are 
spoken  by  him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  the  Alpha  and 
the  Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  End,  who  now  himself, 
when  all  is  fulfilled,  speaks  openly  instead  of  through 
those  mysterious  voices  that  have  hitherto  issued  from  out 
the  throne  and  temple,  another  token  of  the  nearer  com- 
munion of  the  saints  with  God  in  the  new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth.^  And  John  is  again  commanded  to  write, 
for  the  words  spoken  are  'faithful  and  true',  and  'they 
are  come  to  pass',  i.  e.  all  God's  promises  and  threaten- 
ings  have  been  fulfilled,  even  the  things  of  the  new  cre- 
ation have  already  come  into  being,  and  the  myster}^ 
of  God  is  ended,  according  to  the  prediction  of  the  angel 
with  the  book  (ch.  10:7),  i.  e.  the  mystery  of  the  divine 
purpose  in  the  great  work  of  creation  and  redemption 
has  now  been  fully  made  known. 

(4)     The  City  of  Glory^  Ch.  21 :11— 21 

'Having  the  glory  of  God',  i.  e.  the  glory  of  his  abid- 
ing presence,  which  is  reflected  in  the  glory  of  gate  and 
wall  and  street,  yet  the  city  is  described  for  our  better 
understanding  in .  terms  of  the  earthly  creation.  Its 
light  is  like  unto  a  stone  most  precious,  and  the  materi- 
als of  its  structure  are  most  costly;  the  building  of  the 
wall  is  of  jasper,  the  city  and  the  street  of  pure  gold, 
and  the  foundations  of  the  wall  adorned  with  all  man- 
ner of  precious  stones,^  while  the  several  gates  are  each 
of  a  single  pearl, — the  mingled  symbols  of  brilliancy, 
glory,  costliness,  and  beauty.  The  city  lies  foursquare, 
a  perfect  fi,g*ure,  the  distinctive  number  of  the  earthly 
creation  still,  though  new,  with  twelve  foundations, 
gates,  and  angels,  the  church  number,  reflecting  the  num- 
ber of  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  of  the  apostles  of  the 

themselves  do  not  often  recur,  yet  the  spirit  of  them  Is  constantly  appearing.' 
Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  511. 

"See  Reynolds,  art.  'John  the  Apost.,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  who  says, 
'The  speaker  is  now,  probably  for  the  first  time  in  the  book,  God  himself;'  also 
see   Swete,   Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.    275. 

^Verses  11-21  describe  the  exterior,  and  verses  22-27  describe  the  interior  of 
the  city,  while  verse  22f. — ch.  22.5  further  describe  the  life  of  the  city. 

^These  stones  are  not  arranged  in  the  same  order  as  in  the  breastplate  of 
the  highpriest.  Instead  of  this  St  John  has  most  ingeniously  disposed  them 
according  to  the  various  shades  of  the  same  color, ...  .showing  a  technical 
knowledge  and  a  minute  acquaintance  with  the  nicest  shades  of  color  of  precious 
stones  only  possessed  by  persons  with  a  practical  knowledge  of  their  nature.' 
King's  Nat.  Hist,  of  Prec.  Stones,  quoted  in  Bib.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  832. 


230    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

Lamb,  and  with  walls  one  hundred  and  forty-four  cubits 
high,  the  square  of  the  church  number,  and  twelve  thou- 
sand furlongs  in  length  on  each  of  the  four  sides, ^  the 
church  number  multiplied  by  a  thousand,  and  the  num- 
ber of  the  sealed  in  each  tribe  (ch.  7 :5f.), — pertinent  sym- 
bols, all  of  these,  of  the  perfect  home  of  the  redeemed, 
as  well  as  of  the  symmetry  of  the  perfect  church.  The 
city  is  further  described  as  a  perfect  cube  like  the  holy 
of  holies  in  the  sanctuary,  the  length  and  breadth  and 
the  height  of  it  being  equal  (v.  16)  which  perhaps  means 
that  in  the  height  is  included  the  eminence  on  which  it 
stands,  though  others  think  that  there  is  an  intentional 
absence  of  all  verisimilitude.^  The  symbolical  meaning 
of  the  cubical  dimensions  is  evidently  that  of  a  sym- 
metrical and  ideal  perfection  which  is  proportional  in 
all  its  parts,  and  like  to  the  holy  of  holies  in  the  earthly 
temple.^  The  circuit  of  the  walls  is  forty-eight  thou- 
sand stadia,  i.  e.  four  times  twelve  thousand  furlongs  or 
stadia,  and  seems  to  be  a  designed  reference  to  the  city  of 
Babylon,  the  greatest  city  of  the  ancient  world,  the  cir- 
cuit of  wdiich  was  four  hundred  and  eighty  stadia,  i.  e. 
four  times  one  hundred  and  twenty  furlongs  or  stadia, 
while  that  of  the  New  Jerusalem  is  greater  a  hundred- 
fold, which  is  evidently  the  language  of  symbolism.^ 
The  city  which  is  first  seen  from  afar,  coming  down 
out  of  heaven  (v.  11-14),  is  afterward  measured,  and 
its  glories  pointed  out  by  the  angel  (see  the  divisions 
indicated  by  paragraphs  in  the  text  of  the  Revelation 
given  in  the  first  part  of  the  volume). 

(5)     The  City  of  Many  Nations  Ch.  21:24,  and  26 

The  nations  walk  amidst  the  light  thereof,  and  the 
kings  of  the  earth  bring  their  glory  into  it,  a  description 
which  seems  to  reflect  the  thought  of  a  new  earth  that 
will  be  peopled  as  well  as  the  holy  city,  as  implied  in 
the  first  verse  of  the  chapter,  and  perhaps  designed  to 
show  the  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

i'12,000  furlongs  or  stadia  amounting  to  1378  English  miles'.  Dean,  Book  of 
Rev.,  p.  185. 

=For  the  first  view  see  Alford,  Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  p.  741,  for  the  second 
View  Mllligan,  Internat.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  154. 

''A  cube  was  symbolical  of  perfection  to  a  Jew  as  a  circle  is  to  ourselves.' 
Moffatt,  Expos.  Gr.  Test.,  Rev.,  p.  483. 

^See  Smith's  Diet,  of  Bib.,  art.  'Babylon' ;  and  Swete,  Apoc.  of  St  John,  p. 
285. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    231 

(6)  The  City  of  Exclusions       Ch.  21. 1,  4,  22,  23,  25,  27 ; 

and  22:3,  5 

The  city  has  no  more  sea,  i.  e.  the  old,  earthly,  tur- 
bulent sea  of  conflict  and  unrest  (v,  1) ;  no  more  death, 
neither  mourning,  crying,  nor  pain  any  more  (v.  4) ;  no 
separate  temple  or  inner  sanctuary  of  partial  access  to 
God,  for  the  city  is  all  temple,  and  God  forever  dwells 
among  his  people  (v.  22) ;  no  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  night, 
for  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof,  his  spiritual  light 
superseding  the  physical  (v.  23,  25,  and  ch.  22:5);  no 
shut  gates  of  defence  or  hindrance,  for  there  is  no  longer 
either  night  or  enemy  abroad  (v.  25) ;  and  no  more 
curse,  nor  any  unholy  to  renew  the  conflict,  nor  anything 
unclean  or  that  maketh  an  abomination  and  a  lie,  for 
Christ  is  throned  as  victor  (v.  27,  and  ch.  22:3).  In  this 
final  view  of  heaven  not  only  has  the  temple  disap- 
peared, but  also  the  elders,  and  the  four  living  creatures, 
and  all  that  accessory  symbolism  of  the  earlier  visions 
which  was  appropriate  to  the  church-historic  period. 
These  are  no  longer  needed,  for  the  conditions  which 
they  served  to  symbolize  have  passed  away.  Even  the 
angels  are  no  longer  seen  within,  for  this  is  a  vision  of 
redeemed  men  who  look  upon  the  face  of  their  Re- 
deemer. 

(7)  The  City  of  Life  Ch.  22:1—2 

As  the  antidote  of  death  the  eternal  city  is  seen  to 
possess  a  'river  of  water  of  life'  that  flows  out  from  tlie 
throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  street 
thereof,  the  source  of  enduring  life  to  all  the  holy  (Ps. 
46:4-5).  The  city  is,  also,  seen  to  have  the  'tree  of 
lifeV  the  seal  of  God's  first  covenant  in  Eden  (Gen.  2:9; 
3:22),  bearing  twelve  crops  of  fruit,  yielding  its  fruit 
every  month,  and  with  leaves  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations,  which  has  at  last  wrought  its  beneficent  results 
and  forever  removed  the  curse.  The  word  tree  is  in  the 
singular,  but  the  context  shows  that  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood generically,  i.  e.  a  tree  of  life  which  is  found  on 
this  side  of  the  river  and  on  that,  or  trees  of  life  grow- 
ing by  the  river-side.^     We  notice,  also,  that  the  river, 

^'Life  in  each  case  is  (or/,  tlie  vital  principle  which  man  shares  with  God, 
not  Bloc,  the  life  which  he  shares  with  his  fellowmen.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com., 
Rev.,  p.  52. 

2'In  the  old  Paradise  there  was  but  one  such  tree,  in  the  new  one  there  are 
many.'  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  297.  For  a  similar  idea,  not  of  twelve  crops 
of  fruit  but  of  twelve  trees  with  divers  fruits  for  Israel,  see  //  Esdr.  2.18. 


232    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

which  in  the  earthly  Paradise  was  parted  and  became 
four  heads  when  traced  to  its  source,  is  now  replaced  by 
a  single  river  of  water  of  life  in  the  heavenly;  and  the 
Scripture  story  of  man,  viewed  from  its  beginning  to  its 
close,  is  seen  to  finally  lead  up  from  the  lost  Paradise  of 
creation  to  the  Paradise  regained  by  redemption.  And 
in  that  city  forever  dwell  only  those  'that  are  written 
in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life'. 

(8)  The  City  of  God  Ch.  22:3—5 

The  crowning  glory  of  the  holy  city  is  the  abiding 
presence  of  Jehovah,  for  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb  shall  be  therein,  and  the  redeemed  shall  see  his 
face^  in  the  beatific  vision,  and  his  name  shall  be  upon 
their  foreheads,  and  they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 
Then  and  there  man  redeemed,  who  has  so  long  been 
separated  from  the  face  of  God  by  the  ruinous  results 
of  sin,  shall  be  at  last  restored  to  the  fulness  of  the 
divine  presence  to  abide  throughout  eternity.^  Whether, 
indeed,  God  in  his  essential  being  can  ever  be  directly 
apprehended  by  the  finite  spirit,  is  a  question  that  with 
our  present  light  we  cannot  definitely  determine.  It 
may  well  be  in  eternity  as  in  time,  there  as  well  as  here, 
that  for  us  to  see  the  Son  is  to  see  the  Father,  and  that 
the  beatific  vision  for  which  men  have  so  often  longed 
and  hoped  and  prayed  in  the  past,  is  to  be  realized  in  a 
way  quite  different  from  the  common  thought,  by  the 
blessed  vision  of  the  glorified  and  exalted  Christ  in  the 
fadeless  life  of  the  perfected  kingdom  of  God  in  heaven. 
The  name  which  shall  be  upon  the  foreheads  of  the  re- 
deemed is  evidently  the  'new  name'  of  chapter  three 
(v.  12)  which  sums  up  in  itself  all  the  fulness  of  the 
future  revelation  of  God  to  the  glorified,  the  tran- 
scendental and  ineffable  name  to  men  upon  earth  'which 
no  one  knoweth  but  he  that  receiveth  it',  i.  e.  in  the  fu- 
ture life  of  the  heavenly  kingdom. 

It  is  surely  worthy  of  our  attention  here  to  note  in 
closing,  how  all  God's  revelations  of  himself  have  not 
only  tended  to  grow  in  intensity  and  clearness,  but  also 
to  center  in  the  name  by  which  he  is  made  known.  Be- 
ginning  with    the    announcement   of   his    sacred   name 

^'Bv  oriential  usage,  no  condemned  or  criminal  person  was  allowed  to  look 
on  the  liing's  face'   (Esth.  7.8).  Moffatt,  Exp.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.,  p.  488. 

2'Tlie  wiiole  meaning  and  value  of  the  New  Jerusalem  lies  in  the  presence 
of  God  with   men  which  it  guarantees.'  Moffatt,  Exp.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.,  p.   480. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    233 

Jehovah,  as  distinct  from  his  former  name  Elohim,  in 
connection  with  the  great  events  of  Israel's  redemptive 
history,  there  is  a  manifest  movement  in  the  historical 
self-revelation  of  God  to  men  that  is  marked  by  pro- 
gressive steps  which  lead  on  through  all  the  promise 
and  mystery  of  the  incarnate  Christ  to  this  final  revela- 
tion of  himself,  lying  beyond  history,  that  shall  be  made 
to  the  redeemed  mider  the  'new  name'  when  redemption 
is  complete.  He  who  was  first  promised  to  men,  to  be 
born  'of  the  seed  of  the  woman',  and  'of  the  seed  of 
Abraham',  and  was  afterward  more  clearly  revealed  to 
Israel  as  'the  son  of  David',  'the  servant  of  Jehovah', 
'Immanuel',  'the  Son  of  Man',  and  'the  Messiah',  and 
who  was  made  known  to  men  in  his  incarnation  as 
'Jesus',  'the  Christ',  and  'our  Lord',  was  finally  recog- 
nized by  the  church  under  his  full  redemptive  title  as 
'the  Lord  Jesus  Christ',  by  which  name  he  shall  be 
know^n  throughout  all  the  centuries  to  the  end  of  time. 
But  the  vision  of  the  city  of  God  reaches  far  beyond 
this,  and  tells  of  his  name  to  be  then  written  upon  the 
foreheads  of  the  redeemed,  manifestly  his  'own  new 
name'  (ch.  3:12)  that  is  to  be  revealed  to  the  glorified 
when  redemption  is  complete,  which  stands  for  the  full, 
final,  and  complete  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  in  the 
new  relations  of  the  great  future  life  in  heaven. 

Thus,  with  the  redeemed  enthroned  in  power,  and 
dwelling  in  the  unveiled  presence  of  God  revealed,  there 
is  completely  fulfilled  the  ultimate  divine  purpose  of 
man's  creation  and  redemption.  This,  in  John's  view, 
is  the  consummation  of  all  things,  that 

'One  far-off  divine  event. 

To  w^hich  the  whole  creation  moves.' 

The  transition  to  the  closing  part  of  the  book  is  now 
made,  but  it  is  not  very  definitely  marked,  and  in  the 
division  into  chapters  it  was  overlooked  entirely,  for  the 
twenty-second  chapter  should  begin  at  this  point.  Some 
would  make  the  break  at  the  close  of  verse  seven,  but  it 
more  properly  belongs  at  the  close  of  verse  five,  where 
the  description  of  the  New  Jerusalem  ends. 

Ill     The  Epilogue  Ch.  22:6—21 

The  epilogue  consists  of  a  recapitulation  of  the 
authority  and  contents  of  the  book,  instructions  for  its 
use,  and  an  enforcement  of  its  lessons.     It  is  a  brief  but 


234    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

impressive  conclusion,  giving  the  final  words  of  the 
angel,  with  the  promise  of  Christ  to  the  victors,  and  the 
closing  testimony  of  John. 

A     The  Final  Words  of  the  Angel,  with  the  Promise 
OF  Christ  Ch.  22:6—16 

These  words  should  be  regarded  as  spoken  for 
Christ,  and  the  promise  to  the  victors  as  made  in  his 
name,  by  the  angel  that  he  sent  to  testify  these  things 
unto  John,  the  interpreting  angel  of  chapter  one  (v.  1), 
who  now  looks  back  over  the  entire  revelation  that  has 
been  given,  returning  from  the  series  of  visions  reveal- 
ing the  future  to  the  standpoint  of  the  introductory 
vision.^ 

1     The  Message  Reaffirmed  Ch.  22:6—9 

The  importance  of  the  message  is  recognized  and 
its  trustworthiness  emphasized  by  repeated  affirmation. 
An  effort  is  thereby  made  to  impress  indelibly  its 
lessons  upon  the  heart  of  the  church. 

(1)  The  Witness  of  the  Angel  Ch.  22 :6— 7 

The  sayings  of  the  book  are  declared  to  be  true  and 
faithful,  and  of  divine  authority;  the  speedy  coming  of 
Christ  is  announced,^  i.  e.  'quickly'  in  the  divine  view 
which  covers  all  eternity,  but  not  to  be  understood  as  at 
once  or  soon  from  the  ordinary  or  human  point  of  view; 
and  a  blessing  is  pronounced  upon  those  who  keep  the 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book  in  anticipation  of 
their  complete  fulfilment. 

(2)  The  Witness  Confirmed  by  John  Ch.  22.  8a 

To  the  declaration  of  the  angel  is  added  the  direct 
testimony  of  John  that  he  saw  and  heard  these  things,  a 
parenthetical  remark,  strengthening  the  statement  of 
the  angel  and  confirming  the  words  of  the  book. 

(3)  Worship  from  John  again  Refused         Ch.  22:8b — 9 

The  form  and  presence  and  message  of  the  angel 
overwhelm  John  with  awe,  and  he  tenders  his  worship; 

^Dusterdieck,  Meyer's  Com.  on  Rev.,  p.  490 ;  and  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com., 
Rev.,  p.  546.  'The  Revelation  is  begun  (ch.  1.17-20)  and  ended  (ch.  22.16)  by 
Christ  himself ;  but  the  main  portion  is  conducted  by  means  of  his  angel.'  Pulp. 
Com.,    Rev.,   p.   2. 

='In  the  seventh  verse,  with  the  affirmation  Behold,  I  come  quickly,  the 
narration  passes  into  the  words  of  Christ  himself,  just  as  in  ver.  12  and  ch. 
xl.  3.'  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  546. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    235 


but  the  angel,  as  before  (ch.  19:10),  acknowledges  him- 
self a  fellow-servant  with  John,  and  bids  the  Apostle 
worship  God — probably  a  protest  against  angel  worship 
which  may  already  have  begun. 

2  The  Book  Not  to  be  Sealed  Ch.  22:10— 11 

The  words  of  the  prophecy  are  not  to  be  sealed,  i.  e. 
they  are  not  to  be  kept  secret,  evidently  not  even  their 
deeper  meaning,  so  far  as  it  was  kno\\Ti,  was  to  be  veiled 
in  secrecy,  but  was  to  be  openly  communicated  to  the 
churches,  for  the  time  of  inevitable  reward  is  declared 
to  be  at  hand  (v.  10-11)  both  for  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked,  when  the  present  opportunity  shall  be  ended.^ 
The  opposite  direction,  it  will  be  noticed,  was  given  con- 
cerning the  Book  if  Daniel  (ch.  12:4,  9),  which  was 
commanded  to  be  'shut  up  and  sealed  till  the  time  of 
the  end',  because  as  had  been  previously  explained,  'it 
belongeth  to  many  days  to  come'  (Dan.  8:26).  But  this 
book  is  to  be  given  at  once  to  men,  an  evident  indication 
that  its  contents  were  not  regarded  as  secret  or  veiled, 
but  were  intended  to  be  read  and  understood  by  all. 

3  The  Promise  of  Christ  to  the  Victors    Ch.  22:12— 16 

'Behold,  I  come  quickly ;2  and  my  reward  is  with 
me,'  is  the  gracious  promise  of  recompense  to  be  given 
to  the  faithful,  for  he  will  'render  to  each  man  accord- 
ing as  his  work  is' — a  fundamental  principle  of  the 
final  judgment  that  is  everywhere  emphasized  through- 
out the  book.  'I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  First 
and  the  Last,  the  Beginning  and  the  End',  is  a  recapitu- 
lation of  these  three  comprehensive  titles  descriptive  of 
Christ  which  have  hitherto  been  used  separately^  (chs. 
1:8,  17;  2:8;  21:6),  but  are  now  massed  together  in  im- 
pressive solemnity.  It  is  the  equivalent  of  saying,  'I 
am  the  Source,  and  through  me  will  be  the  Consumma- 
tion, of  all  that  which  is  and  was  and  shall  be  the  ages 
through' — an  affirmation  of  absolute  supremacy  in  the 
universe.^    The  declaration  of  the  next  verse   (v.  14), 

I'The  present  era,  which  is  'a  day  of  salvation',  is  so  nearly  at  an  end  that 
there  is  hardly  room  for  change.  ..  .The  principle  which  underlies  the  whole 
verse  (v.  11)  applies  only  to  the  moment  before  the  Judgment  breaks,  the 
point  when  the  Bridegroom  comes  and  the  door  is  shut,  when  choice  is  sealed 
and  opportunity  ends,'   Scott,  New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  300f. 

2'All  history  from  the  redemptive  point  of  view  is  summed  up  in  the  three 
sentences.  He  is  coming,  He  has  come,  He  will  come  again.'  Ottley,  art.  'Incar- 
nation.' Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 

3'When  Christ  claims  this  title  for  himself,  it  is  plainly  announced  that  the 
revelation  of  God  in  Christ,  in  what  he  was  and  what  he  did,  is  the  key  to  the 


236    STUDIES  m  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

'Blessed  are  they  that  wash  their  robes,  that  they  may 
have  the  right  to  come  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter 
in  by  the  gates  into  the  city',  is  the  seventh  and  last  of 
the  wonderful  Benedictions  of  the  book  (see  App'x  C). 
In  contrast  with  these  that  are  blessed,  are  all  the 
wicked  of  every  class  who  are  left  without,  including 
'every  one  that  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie'.  He  who  sent 
his  angel  to  testify  to  these  things  is  Jesus  (v.  16),  once 
born  of  the  family  of  David,  the  bright  and  morning 
star,  the  glorious  harbinger  of  the  day  of  redemption.^ 
The  words  are  in  the  form  of  direct  address,  and  are  un- 
doubtedly from  Christ  himself,  though  as  there  is  no 
apparent  indication  of  a  change  of  speaker  from  verse 
six,  where  the  voice  is  clearly  that  of  the  angel,  we  may 
regard  them  either  as  given  by  the  angel  who  repeats 
what  Christ  has  said,  or  as  personally  spoken  by  Christ 
himself.^  It  is  well  for  us  at  this  point  to  remember  the 
interesting  fact,  generally  known  by  students  of  the 
Greek  Testament,  that  in  verse  sixteen,  'at  the  word 
'David',  the  manuscript  1,  from  which  Erasmus  com- 
piled the  Textus  Receptus,  ends.  In  order  to  supply  the 
remainder,  which  is  deficient,  Erasmus  retranslated  the 
Vulgate  Version  into  Greek.  The  Greek,  therefore,  of 
the  Textus  Receptus  from  this  point  onwards  is  the 
Greek  of  Erasmus',^  and  hence  lacks  the  authority  of 
the  original  text. 

B     The  Closing  Testimony  or  John  Ch.  22 :17 — 20 

These  verses  contain  the  final  witness,  warning,  and 
exhortation  of  the  Apostle,  which  is  given  to  the 
churches  before  the  book  is  closed,  concerning  all  the 
things  which  are  written  therein. 

issues  of  human  life.  Christianity  is  final.'  Ross  art.  'First  and  Last.'  Hastings' 
Diet,  of  Vhr.  and  Oosp.  'The  first  title  is  symbolical ;  the  second  is  borrowed 
from  the  Old  Testament ;  the  third  is  philosophical.  The  sense  is,  •!  am  He 
from  whom  all  Being  has  proceeded,  and  to  whom  it  will  return  ; — the  primal 
Cause  and  final  Aim  of  all  history  ; — Who  have  created  the  world,  and  Who  will 
perfect  it.'  Lee,  Bib.  Com.  Rev.,  p.  840.  Also  of.  the  view  of  Bacon,  art.  'Alpha 
and  Omega,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Chr.  and  Oosp. 

I'The  Apocalypse  thus  closes,  as  it  began  (ch.  1.5-6),  with  a  note  of  ringing 
emphasis  upon  the  eternal  significance  of  Christ  in  the  divine  plan  and  purpose.' 
Moffatt.  Exp.   Or.   Test.,   Rev.,  p.   491. 

=Alford  says,  'The  speech  passes  into  the  words  of  Christ  reported  by  the 
angel.'  {Or.  Test.,  vol.  iv,  p.  746).  Scott  however,  may  be  right  in  his  comment 
on  verse  sixteen  (New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  302).  when  he  says,  'The  figure  which 
has  been  behind  the  angel  from  the  beginning  of  the  visions  (ch.  1.13-17)  ... 
now  steps  forth,  as  it  were,  to  authenticate  the  angel's  testimony.'  Swete  says, 
'Now  at  length  Christ  speaks  in  his  human  personal  name'  (Apoc.  of  8t  John, 
p.  305)  .  Plummer's  comment  is  made  with  apparent  reserve,  'The  words  are 
spoken  as  by  Christ  himself  (Pulp.'  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  547),  though  elsewhere  he  says 
more  definitely.  The  Revelation  is  begun  and  ended  by  Christ  himself  (Pulp. 
Com.,   Rev.,  p.  2). 

'Plummer,   Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  547. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    237 

1  A  Last  Universal  Invitation  of  Grace  Ch.  22 :17 

'Come!'  'Come!'  'Come!'  A  thrice  repeated  call 
to  all  men  to  come  to  Christ  for  the  free  gift  of  life 
eternal,  is  fervently  uttered  before  the  book  is  closed 
forever.  The  beloved  disciple  with  ardent  zeal  sends 
out  this  final  call  to  the  unsaved,  and  thus  the  message 
of  judgment  throughout  the  book  reaches  a  fitting  close 
in  a  full,  free,  and  urgent  invitation  to  all  men  of  every 
class  to  accept  the  offer  of  salvation.  This  certainly 
appears  to  be  the  natural  meaning  of  the  passage,  as  is 
made  clear  by  the  appeal  in  the  latter  part  of  the  verse, 
which  would  otherwise  lack  coherence,  viz.  'And  he 
that  is  athirst  let  him  come:  he  that  will,  let  him  take 
of  the  water  of  life  freely.'  The  verse  is,  however,  re- 
garded by  many  as  belonging  to  the  words  of  Christ 
just  preceding  (v.  12-16),  though  it  is  more  likely,  but 
we  cannot  say  certainly,  spoken  by  John.  Either  con- 
nection is  possible,  and  does  not  materially  affect  the 
sense.  Another,  perhaps  the  more  common  though  less 
likely  interpretation,  makes  the  word  'Come',  repeated 
in  the  first  half  of  the  verse,  a  call  to  Christ  to  come 
again,  referring  to  his  promise  in  the  twelfth  verse ;  and 
regards  the  passage  either  as  the  words  of  Christ  affirm- 
ing the  witness  of  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  who  entreat 
him  to  come,  or  as  an  answering  cry  from  John  on  be- 
half of  the  church.^ 

2  A     Last     Impressive     Warning     of     Exhortation 

Ch.  22:18—19 

'If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall 
add  unto  him  the  plagues  which  are  written  in  this  book : 
and  if  any  man  shall  take  away ....  God  shall  take  away 
his  part  from  the  tree  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city.' 
These  are  the  authoritative  words  of  a  messenger  con- 
scious of  divine  authority,  and  are  intended  to  preserve 
the  integrity  of  his  message.^  They  are  similar  in  form 
to    the    warning    given    in    Deuteronomy    (Deut.    4:2; 

^Plummer  says,  'These  words  are  best  understood  as  uttered  hy  the  writer.' 
Pulp.  Com..  Rev.,  p.  547  ;  in  Swete's  opinion  'It  is  the  answer  of  the  church  to 
the  voice  of  John  in  verse  twelve.'  Apoc.  of  8t  John.p.  306  ;  Milligan  suggests  that 
the  first  clause  is  the  answer  of  the  church  moved  by  the  Spirit,  the  second 
is  the  words  of  John,  and  the  latter  half  is  Christ  himself  speaking — 'an  inter- 
change of  thought  and  feeling  between  Jesus  and  his  church'  Internat.  Com., 
Rev.,  pp.  160-161.  There  is,  however,  nothing  in  the  context  that  implies  a 
change  of  speaker. 

-'This  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  duty  laid  upon  St.  John  in  ch.  1.1,  not  an 
announcement  of  our  Lord  himself,  Plummer,  Pulp.  Com.,  Rev.,  p.  548.  Swete, 
however,  regards  these  as  the  words  of  Jesus  himself,  Apoc.  of  8t  John,  p.  307. 


238    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

12:32),  guarding  against  the  deliberate  falsification,  or 
misinterpretation,  of  a  divine  message. 

3  A  Last  Assuring  Promise  of  Hope  Ch.  22 :20a 

'Yea:  I  come  quickly'  is  the  final  and  repeated  as- 
surance of  Christ  to  the  church  of  his  personal  coming. 
The  promise  of  the  Lord  Jesus  that  he  will  come  again 
quickly,  which  was  introduced  almost  at  the  beginning 
of  the  book,  and  which  recurs  at  intervals  throughout, 
is  thus  solemnly  emphasized  and  repeated  once  more  at 
the  close,  a  clear  indication  of  the  place  which  it  oc- 
cupied in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle.  As  before  it  is  not 
'quickly'  in  the  earthly  sense,  else  Christ  would  have 
come  long  since,  but  from  the  divine  point  of  view,  for 
God's  plan  is  never  slow  in  its  accomplishment.^ 

4  A  last  Ecstatic  Prayer  of  Yearning  Ch.  22 :20b 

'Amen:  come.  Lord  Jesus',  is  the  Apostle's  closing 
rejoinder  of  rapturous  faith  and  hope.  'In  this  final 
assurance  of  the  Lord,  '  I  come  quickly',  the  Book  of 
Revelation  finds  its  keynote  again,  and  so  sinks  to  rest 
with  the  acquiescent  [and  triumphant]  reply  of  faith, 
'Amen:  come.  Lord  Jesus. '^ 

C     The  Author's  Benediction  Ch.  22:21 

The  apostolic  blessing  of  the  human  author  of  the 
Apocalypse  is  added  as  a  final  word  to  the  message  of 
the  book,  invoking  the  grace  or  favor  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
the  divine  Saviour,  upon  all  the  saints,  the  usual  closing 
words  of  the  New  Testament  Epistles.  The  benedic- 
tion, though  unusual  in  apocalypses,  is  here  no  doubt 
added  because  the  book  was  intended  to  be  read  in  the 
churches.  And  thus  in  words  familiar  to  every  believer 
is  brought  to  a  close  the  great  Apocalyptic  writing  of 
the  Christian  church,  the  last  message  of  the  glorified 
Christ  to  his  faithful  disciples  upon  earth,  a  deep  and 
soul-inspiring  view  of  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  fu- 
ture, beheld  in  the  light  of  Apocalyptic  vision.  Moved 
by  its  manifold  lessons  of  faith  and  hope,  we  surely  can- 
not but  join  with  fervent  accord  and  repetition  in  its 
last  word  of  appeal  and  blessing, 

AMEN  AND  AMEN. 

"'It  becomes  a  serious  evil  when  ttie  magnificent  confidence  and  certainty  of 
St  Jotin  as  to  tlie  speedy  accomplisliment  of  all  these  things  is  distorted  into  a 
declaration  of  the  immediate  coming  of  the  Lord  and  the  end  of  the  world. 
Time  was  not  an  element  in  his  anticipation.  He  was  gazing  upon  the  eternal, 
in  which  time  has  no  existence.'   Ramsay,  Letters  to  Seven  Ch's,  p.   113. 

^New  Cent.  Bib.,  Rev.,  p.  304. 


APPENDICES 


240    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

Appendix  A 

SOME    FUNDAMENTAL    CONCEPTIONS    OF  THE 

APOCALYPSE 

(The  Conditions  of  the  Present  Age) 

I     A  Duality  of  Fokces  in  the  Moral  World 

The  Good  vs The  Evil; 

or 
The  Kingdom  of  God  . .  vs.   .  .   The  Counter-King- 
dom of  Satan. 

II     A  Triple  Antagonism  of  Moral  Life 

1  Between  God  ~j<c:- a z  ==-^  vSatan; 

2  Between  Good  Angels  ^=-----$rs.r^^--~-~^^  Evil  Angels; 

3  Between     The  Saints  -» ='r:  r  I '_  _  d  _V_~ -1~>^  The  Men  of  the  Earth . 

Ill     A  Trinal  Antithesis  of  Moral  Character 

1  Of  the  Lamb  and  the  Dragon,  i.  e.   of  Christ  and 

Satan,  or  in  the  Greek  Aqviov  and  bpaxodv. 
The  same  antithesis  is  implied  between  the 
Lamb  and  the  two  Beasts  to  whom  the  Dragon 
gives  his  power,  as  shown  by  the  Greek  names 
'Aqviov  and  9^tiqiov. 

2  Of  the  Bride  and  the   Harlot,  i.  e.    of  the  True 

Church   and   the    Faithless   World,    or   in    the 

Greek  NviAqpr]  and  IIoqvti. 

A    like     antithesis    also     exists    between    the 

Woman  (cf.  ch.  12)  and  the  Harlot,  Fuvf)  and 

Hoovr). 

3  Of  Jerusalem  and  Babylon,  i.  e.  of  the  Holy  City 

and  the  Unholy  or  the  Great  City, 'leQOVoaXfifx 
and  Ba6x)Ao)v. 

The  full  antithesis  is  found  in  the  final  contrast 
between  the  New  Jerusalem  and  the  Old  Baby- 
lon, the  City  of  God  and  the  City  of  Sin,  or  the 
Redeemed  Church  and  the  Godless  World. 

IV    A  Threefold    Theocratic    Method  in  Man's  Re- 
demptive History 

1  By  Moral  Conflict — the  Evil  against  the  Good; 

2  Through   Divine   Preservation — God    Caring   for 

his  Own ; 

3  Unto  Christian  Triumph — the  Victory  of  the  Re- 

deemed. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    241 


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242   STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

Appendix  B 

CURRENT    QUESTIONS    OF    DIVIDED    OPINION 

I     The  Four  Schools  of  Interpretation 

1  The     Preterist,    or     Contemporaneous-Historical 

School ; 

2  The      Progressivist,      or      Continuous-Historical 

School ; 

3  The  Futurist,  or  Future-Historical  School; 

4  The  Symbolist,  or  Spiritual  School. 

The  wide  diversity  of  prevailing  opinion  is 
well  indicated  by  the  existence  of  four  separate 
schools  of  interpreters,  who  represent  as  many 
different  viewpoints  that  are  currently  attrib- 
uted to  the  prophecy,  and  that  are  based  upon 
two  fundamentally  different  methods  of  regard- 
ing its  purpose,  viz.  the  Historical  which  special- 
ises, and  the  Symbolical  which  idealises  the  mes- 
sage of  the  book,  conveniently  referred  to  as  the 
Historical  and  Symbolical  Schools. 

II     The  Seven  Shibboleths  of  Interpreters 

1  The  Personal  Anti-Christ; 

2  The  Emperor  Nero; 

3  The  Roman  Church; 

4  The  Mohammedan  Power; 

5  The  Restoration  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine; 

6  The     Time,     Purpose,     and     Circumstances    of 

Christ's  Second  Coming; 

7  The  Personal  Millennial  Reign  of  Christ  on  the 

Earth. 

These  are  the  main  subjects  of  disagreement 
among  interpreters,  and  mark  the  dividing  lines 
of  opinion.  The  Historical  School,  in  its  vari- 
ous forms,  usually  makes  one  or  more  of  these 
central  to  the  thought  of  the  book;  while  the 
Symbolical  School,  for  the  most  part,  does  not 
regard  any  of  them  as  either  distinctly  indicated, 
or  certainly  implied.  It  is  fortunate,  however, 
that  the  main  teaching  is  not  materially  affected 
by  the  view  we  may  take  concerning  these  sub- 
jects of  disagreement. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    243 


Appendix  C 

HEPTACHORDS  OF  SONG  AND  BLESSING 

I     The  Seven  Choral  Symphonies  of  the  Revelation 

1  The  Creation  Chorus Ch.  4:8b-ll 

2  The  Redemption  Chorus  Ch.  5 :9-14 

3  The  Salvation  Chorus  Ch.  7 :10-12 

4  The  Victory  Chorus  Ch.  11 :17-18 

5  The  New  and  Incommunicable  Chorus 

Ch.  14:2-3 

6  The  Adoration  Chorus  (of  Moses  and 

the  Lamb)    Ch.  15 :3-4 

7  The  Hallelujah  Chorus  Ch.  19:1-7 

II     The  Seven  Benedictions  of  the  Revelation 

1  The  Benediction  upon  the  Receivers 

of  the  Book  Ch.     1 :3 

2  The     Benediction     upon     the     Holy 

Dead '. . .  Ch.  14:13 

3  The  Benediction  upon  the  Watchers 

for  their  Lord Ch.  16 :15 

4  The  Benediction  upon  the  Guests  at 

the  Marriage  Supper   Ch.  19 :9 

5  The  Benediction  upon  the  Sharers  in 

the  First  Resurrection  Ch.  20 :6 

6  The   Benediction   upon   the  Keepers 

of  the  Prophecy Ch.  22 :7 

7  The  Benediction  upon  the  Purified  ....  Ch.  22 :14 


244    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


Appendix  D 

THE    FORMAL    SERIES    OF    SEVENS 

The  Initial  Series  or  Seven 
(Messages  of  Christ  to  the  Church  Universal) 

1  A  Message  to  the  Church  when  Declining,  as  in 

Ephesus: — 'Remember. . .  .and  Repent.' 

2  A  Message  to  the  Church  when  Suffering,  as  in 

Smyrna: — 'Fear  not. . .  .Be  Faithful.' 

3  A  Message   to  the   Church  when   Impure,   as   in 

Pergamus: — 'Repent,     or    I     Come    with    the 
Sword.' 

4  A  Message  to  the  Church  when  Struggling,  as  in 

Thyatira:— 'Hold  Fast  till  I  Come.' 

5  A   Message   to   the    Church  when   Dying,   as   in 

Sardis: — 'Stablish  the  Things  that  Remain.' 

6  A  Message  to  the  Church  when  Steadfast,  as  in 

Philadelphia :— '  Hold    Fast ....  That    No    One 
Take  thy  Crown.' 

7  A  Message  to  the  Church  when  Self -Deceived,  as 

in  Laodicea: — 'Be  Zealous ....  and  Repent.' 


246    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

Appendix  E 

THE   SYMBOLISM   OF   NUMBERS 

(A  Key  to  Scripture  Interpretation) 

The  value  of  the  symbolism  of  numbers  in  the 
general  interpretation  of  Scripture  is  variously  esti- 
mated, but  its  importance  in  interpreting  the  Revelation  is 
almost  universally  conceded,  for  without  it  we  cannot 
understand  aright  the  symbolic  teaching  of  the  book. 
The  attentive  student  will  not  fail  to  notice  the  wide  use 
of  numbers  throughout,  and  the  effect  of  addition,  sub- 
traction, multiplication,  and  division,  upon  the  symbol- 
ism of  the  simpler  numbers.  The  author  believes  that  a 
cautious  use  can  often  be  made  of  numbers  in  the  inter- 
pretation not  only  of  the  Revelation  where  their  use  is  so 
manifest,  but  of  many  other  parts  of  Scripture,  if  not 
too  much  stress  be  laid  on  the  symbolic  meaning,  for  the 
Hebrew  mind  delighted  itself  in  symbols.  The  value  of 
this  knowledge  lies  in  the  fact  that  an  additional  thought 
may  often  be  caught  in  this  way  that  would  otherwise 
escape  our  attention,  though  it  is  usually  subordinate 
and  does  not  occupy  so  prominent  a  place  as  in  the 
Revelation.  The  symbolism  of  the  numbers  used  in  the 
book  is  concisely  stated  in  this  appendix  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  reader. 

One  (a  unit),  the  Primary  Number.  The  symbol  of 
that  which  is  single,  alone,  or  representative.  One 
hour,  and  one  day,  in  the  Revelation  stand  for  a  relatively 
short  time,  and  a  half -hour  for  a  clearly  limited  period, 
even  though  these  may  not  be  actually  short  from  the 
human  point  of  view.  The  fractions  one-half,  one-third, 
and  one-fourth  do  not  represent  definite  parts,  but  in  a 
general  way  portions  less  than  the  whole,  that  which  is 
of  limited  extent  in  relation  to  the  whole. 

Two  (a  pair),  the  Lowest  Plural  Number.  The 
symbol  of  confirmation,  of  added  strength  and  surety, 
especially  the  number  of  confirmation  in  witness-bear- 
ing. The  Two  Witnesses  in  chapter  eleven,  and  the 
Two  Beasts  in  chapter  thirteen,  it  will  be  seen,  serve  to 
strengthen  each  other. 

Three  (  a  triad),  the  Divine  Number.  The  symbol 
of  the  Trinity;  of  the  spiritual  as  contrasted  with  the 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    247 

material;  of  blessing  in  the  Old  Testament.  A  small 
total  that  is  deemed  sufficient;  a  limited  plurality; 
spiritual  completeness.  The  smallest  number  with  a  be- 
ginning, a  middle,  and  an  end — a  fact  that  impressed  the 
Jewish  mind. 

Three  and  one-half  (one-half  of  seven),  a  Broken 
Number,  the  half  of  the  Perfect  Number.  The  symbol 
of  the  finite  or  undetermined ;  a  broken  and  uncertain 
period  without  a  fixed  limit;  a  shortened  period  of  time 
when  applied  to  duration,  and  usually  one  of  tribula- 
tion ;  a  period  of  trial  and  judgment.  Three  and  a  half 
years  is  the  period  of  the  church's  conflict  in  the  Revela- 
tion, the  age  of  the  church  militant,  the  church-eon; 
and  three  and  a  half  days  is  the  short  and  indefinite 
period  of  world-triumph  in  which  the  church  suffers 
oppression — the  equivalent  of  the  half-week  in  Daniel. 
Three  and  a  half  years,  the  period  of  drought  in 
Elijah's  time,  of  the  little  horn  in  Daniel,  and  of 
Christ's  public  ministry,  is  introduced  four  times  in  the 
Revelation,  viz.  it  is  the  period  of  the  Two  Witnesses 
(ch.  11:3),  of  the  Woman  in  the  wilderness  (ch.  12:6, 
14),  of  the  Dragon's  rage  (ch.  12:14),  and  of  the  power 
of  the  Beast  (ch.  13:5),  each  of  which  is  a  time  of  tribu- 
lation. 

Four  (the  four  corners  or  sides  of  a  square),  the 
Earth  Number.  The  symbol  of  the  physical  creation, 
having  relation  to  this  present  world  which  is  usually 
thought  of  as  evil;  also  used  of  world-wideness,  uni- 
versality of  extent,  as  all  parts  of  the  earth  without  any 
moral  significance. 

Five  (one-half  of  ten),  an  Incomplete  Number.  The 
symbol  of  the  indefinite,  the  uncertain,  with  the  sugges- 
tion of  smallness;  as  a  measure  of  time  an  incomplete 
period. 

Six  (one  less  than  seven;  and  one-half  of  twelve), 
an  Imperfect  Number.  The  symbol  of  evil,  of  incom- 
pleteness of  quality,  or  of  imperfection;  Satan's  num- 
ber, the  signature  of  non-perfection;  the  representative 
of  that  which  is  earthly  as  opposed  to  that  which  is 
heavenly;  falling  short  of  the  fulness  of  seven,  the  per- 
fect number,  and  but  the  half  of  twelve,  the  church  num- 
ber. 


248    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

Seven  (the  number  of  days  in  a  week;  also  four 
plus  three),  the  Perfect  Number.  The  symbol  of  per- 
fection, or  completeness  of  quality;  of  totality  of  kind, 
fulness,  or  universality.  A  sacred  number  with  the 
Jews ;  the  number  of  the  covenant  in  the  Old  Testament ; 
the  ethical  number,  for  it  often  has  a  moral  significance, 
and,  as  will  be  seen,  is  composed  of  the  earth  number 
(four)  added  to  the  divine  number  (three).  The  num- 
ber seven  occurs  fifty-four  times  in  the  Revelation,  indi- 
cating that  it  occupied  an  important  place  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer,  and  should  receive  special  attention. 

Eight  (seven  plus  one),  a  Reinforced  Number.  The 
symbol  of  culmination,  of  resurrection,  or  of  a  new  life 
or  period  begun. 

Ten  (the  ten  digits;  the  ten  commandments),  the 
Complete  Number.  The  symbol  of  completeness  of  all 
the  parts,  of  totality  of  portions,  entirety,  and  absolute- 
ness; a  finite  number  as  contrasted  with  infinity;  in  its 
larger  multiples  implying  indefiniteness  and  magnitude. 
Ordinarily  used  of  things  that  are  earthly,  though  not 
necessarily  implying  any  moral  significance.  It  is  a 
relevant  fact,  however,  that  nothing  which  is  described 
in  heaven  is  ten  in  number,  though  its  multiples  are  con- 
stantly introduced.  The  combination  of  seven  with  ten 
in  the  seven  heads  and  ten  horns  of  the  Dragon  and  the 
Beast,  is  unusual  and  has  an  evil  significance  through- 
out, which  is  probably  intended  to  indicate  that  that 
which  was  originally  designed  for  moral  perfection 
(seven)  has  been  prostituted  for  earthly  ends  (ten),  as 
is  signified  by  joining  one  to  the  other. 

Twelve  (the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob;  four  multiplied 
by  three),  the  National  Number  of  Israel.  The  symbol 
of  the  covenant  nation,  the  church  number — the  number 
of  the  earth  (four)  multiplied  by  the  number  of  the  di- 
vine (three)  becoming  the  sign  of  God's  people  divinely 
chosen  out  of  the  earth.  By  some  it  is  interpreted  as 
the  number  of  world-witness  for  divine  truth,  as  the 
twelve  tribes  and  the  twelve  apostles,  putting  the  purpose 
of  the  church  first. 

Twenty-four  (twelve  multiplied  by  two),  the 
National  Number  Doubled.  The  symbol  in  the  Revelation 
of  the  church  of  both  Dispensations  united,  the  Jewish 
and  Christian,  the  church  of  all  the  ages.     The  glorified 


STUDIES  in  me  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    249 

church  in  heaven  is  ideally  represented  by  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  that  are  before  the  throne,  i.  e.  the  elders 
represent  one  phase  of  that  life. 

Forty  (ten  multiplied  by  four),  the  Probational 
Number.  The  symbol  of  temptation,  or  of  the  power  of 
the  earthly;  often  connected  with  the  divine  test  of 
character,  the  earth  number  (four)  multiplied  by  the 
complete  number  (ten)  signifying  the  complete  power 
of  the  earthly  which  is  ever  testing  men.  Also,  as  forty 
years  was  regarded  as  the  period  of  intellectual  ma- 
turity in  man,  it  sometimes  stood  for  a  full  period,  a 
complete  epoch,  especially  a  complete  period  of  stress 
or  trial. 

FoRTY-Two  (twelve  multiplied  by  three  and  a  half; 
or  seven  multiplied  by  six),  a  Broken  Number.  The 
symbol  of  the  church-historic  period  of  trial,  the  world- 
age,  the  duration  of  the  rule  of  wickedness.  Three  and 
a  half  years  in  months, — the  source  from  which  this 
number  is  derived  in  the  Revelation, — serves  to  indicate 
the  incomplete  period  of  the  church  (twelve  multiplied  by 
three  and  a  half),  and  also  the  full  or  complete  period  of 
evil  (six  multiplied  by  seven). 

Seventy  (ten  multiplied  by  seven),  the  Cosmopoli- 
tan Number.  The  symbol  of  world-wideness ;  of  a  two- 
fold completeness  that  is  all  embracing  and  comprehen- 
sive, comprising  both  seven  and  ten;  the  number  of  the 
nations.  [The  numbers  forty  and  seventy,  strange  to 
say,  do  not  occur  in  the  Revelation,  though  forty  is  com- 
mon in  the  Old  Testament,  and  occurs  also  in  the  New, 
and  the  square  of  forty  (1600)  is  found  in  chapter  four- 
teen (v.  20) ;  seventy  also  had  a  well-knowm  meaning  to 
the  Hebrew  mind,  especially  from  the  period  of  the  Cap- 
tivity which  lasted  seventy  years,  and  was  also  the  num- 
ber of  disciples  sent  forth  by  our  Lord  for  wider  ser- 
vice during  his  Perean  ministry.  It  is  quite  probable, 
however,  that  these  numbers  are  not  used  in  the  Revela- 
tion, where  so  much  stress  is  laid  on  the  symbolism  of 
numbers,  simply  because  their  symbolism  was  not  needed, 
just  as  one  hundred  is  not  used  except  in  combination 
with  other  numbers]. 

One  Hundred  (ten  multiplied  by  ten),  the  Complete 
Number  Squared;  ten  multiplied  by  itself.     The  symbol 


250    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

of  a  multiple  completeness  that  is  usually  applied  to  the 
earthly. 

One  Hundred  and  Forty-four  (twelve  multiplied 
by  twelve),  the  National  Number  of  Israel  Squared. 
The  symbol  of  the  completeness  of  the  redeemed  church 
— the  multiplying  of  a  number  by  itself  conveying  the 
idea  of  a  multiple  fulness  or  completeness;  Israel,  God's 
people,  made  complete. 

Six  Hundred  and  Sixty-six  (six  hundred,  plus 
sixty,  plus  six),  the  Number  of  the  Beast.  The  symbol 
of  the  threefold  form  of  the  world's  evil  which  cul- 
minates in  the  Second  Beast.  Six,  the  number  of  im- 
perfection (one  short  of  th€  mystic  seven),  thrice  re- 
peated, six,  six,  six,  (666),  represents  the  combined 
force  of  the  Dragon,  the  First  Beast,  and  the  Second; 
or,  differently  stated,  six  hundred  may  be  taken  as  the 
symbol  of  the  Dragon,  sixty  as  the  symbol  of  the  First 
Beast,  and  six  as  the  symbol  of  the  second,  which  gives  a 
total  of  six  hundred,  and  sixty,  and  six,  representing  the 
combined  power  of  evil  incarnated  in  the  Second  Beast. 
In  this  symbolism  there  may  also  be  included  the 
thought  of  a  triune  power  in  antagonism  to  the  divine 
Trinity — a  trinity  of  sin. 

One  Thousand  (ten  multiplied  by  ten  multiplied  by 
ten),  the  Cube  of  Ten.  The  symbol  of  multi-complete- 
ness ;  a  number  that  is  great  but  indefinite  in  its  symbol- 
ism, and  often  used  of  the  heavenly.  The  thousand 
years  of  chapter  twenty  is  a  great  period  of  time  of  un- 
known length,  stretching  out  to  untold  generations,  the 
millennium  of  the  church's  history,  the  period  of  the 
church's  triumph  and  victory. 

Twelve  Hundred  and  Sixty  (forty- two  multiplied 
by  thirty;  or  twelve  multiplied  by  three  and  a  half  and 
this  again  by  thirty),  the  Time  Number.  The  symbol 
of  the  indefinite  period  of  present-world  duration;  the 
age  of  persecution.  Twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days  are 
equivalent  to  forty-two  months  of  thirty  days  each,  or 
three  and  a  half  years  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  days 
each,  the  symbol  of  the  incomplete  period  of  trial  during 
which  the  church  suffers  oppression.  To  this  may  per- 
haps be  added  the  combination  of  twelve  multiplied  by 
five,  representing  the  incompleteness  of  the  church  as 
one  factor,  and  seven  multiplied  by  three,  representing 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    251 

the  completeness  of  the  divine  as  the  other  factor,  these 
multiplied  together  equalling  twelve  hundred  and  sixty 
and  symbolizing  God  working  out  perfect  results 
through  the  incomplete  period  of  the  church. 

Sixteen  Hundred  (forty  multiplied  by  forty;  or  one 
hundred  multiplied  by  sixteen),  the  Square  of  Forty;  or 
the  Square  of  Ten  multiplied  by  the  Square  of  Four. 
The  symbol  of  that  which  is  coextensive  with  the  created 
world.  Forty  is  composed  of  four,  the  earth  number, 
multiplied  by  ten,  the  number  of  completeness;  and  six- 
teen hundred,  the  square  of  forty,  is  the  sigTi  of  com- 
pleteness so  far  as  this  world  is  concerned.  The  square 
of  four  multiplied  by  the  square  of  ten  gives  the  same 
result,  and  conveys  the  same  idea  of  world-complete- 
ness. 

Seven  Thousand  (one  thousand  multiplied  by 
seven),  the  Number  of  Multi-Completeness,  one  thou- 
sand, multiplied  by  seven,  the  Number  of  Fulness  or 
Perfection.  The  symbol  of  a  great  number  that  is  fully 
complete;  the  number  of  those  put  to  death  in  the  fall 
of  the  great  city  (ch.  11:13). 

Ten  Thousand  (one  thousand  multiplied  by  ten; 
the  square  of  one  hundred),  the  Superlative  Number. 
The  symbol  of  innumerability,  or  of  an  innumerable 
multitude.  This  is  the  highest  single  number  in  the 
system  of  notation  used  in  the  New  Testament;  ten 
raised  to  the  fourth  power,  a  myriad   (inuunc). 

Twelve  Thousand  (one  thousand  multiplied  by 
twelve),  the  Number  of  Multi-Completeness  (one  thou- 
sand) multiplied  by  the  Number  of  the  Tribes  of  Israel 
(twelve).  The  symbol  of  the  complete  number  saved 
out  of  Israel  from  each  tribe;  or,  as  others  interpret  it, 
the  complete  number  saved  out  of  all  the  nations,  in- 
cluded here  under  the  twelve  tribes,  twelve  thousand 
from  each  tribe ;  also  the  measure  of  one  side  of  the  wall 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  which  is  multi-complete  and 
encircles  the  redeemed  of  Israel. 

One  Hundred  and  Forty-four  Thousand  (one 
thousand  multiplied  by  one  hundred  and  forty-four;  or 
twelve  thousand  multiplied  by  twelve ;  or  the  cube  of  ten 
multiplied  by  the  square  of  twelve),  the  Number  of  Re- 
demption. The  symbol  of  the  multiple  completeness  of 
the  redeemed  church,  whether  applied  to  the  redeemed 


252    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

from  the  Old  Dispensation,  or  by  synecdoche  to  those 
from  all  ages  and  nations. 

Ten  Thousand  Times  Ten  Thousand  (ten  thousand 
multiplied  by  ten  thousand),  the  Number  of  Multi-Com- 
pleteness (one  thousand)  multiplied  by  the  Number  of 
Completeness  of  Parts  (ten),  and  this  again  multiplied 
by  itself;  the  Square  of  a  Myriad,  one  hundred  millions 
in  number.  The  symbol  of  an  innumerable  multitude 
which  is  made  more  intense  by  squaring  it;  the  multiple 
and  innumerable  number  of  the  angels  in  heaven. 

Twice  Ten  Thousand  Times  Ten  Thousand  (ten 
thousand  multiplied  by  ten  thousand,  and  this  again 
doubled),  the  Double  Square  of  a  Myriad,  two  hundred 
millions  in  number — the  largest  multiple  number  in  the 
book  of  Revelation,  and  the  largest  number  mentioned 
in  the  Bible.  The  symbol  of  an  innumerable  multitude 
made  more  intense  by  multiplication,  becoming  thereby 
an  innumerably  innumerable  multitude,  and  this  again 
doubled.  The  countless  number  of  the  vast  invading 
army  of  horsemen  under  the  sixth  trumpet  which  de- 
stroy a  third  part  of  men  from  the  earth;  the  world- 
forces  which  under  direction  of  the  world-rulers  of  the 
darkness  work  world-ruin  among  men — a  significant 
figure  of  the  mighty  power  and  destructive  agency  of 
the  heathen  world  as  it  appeared  to  John's  mind  in  the 
great  Apocalyptic  vision. 


254    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

Appendix  G 

THE  APOCALYPTIC  LITERATURE^ 

The  Apocalyptic  Literature  is  a  characteristic  prod- 
uct of  Jewish  national  and  religious  thought.  It  was  a 
favorite  literary  method  of  a  particular  age,  and  was 
born  of  a  travail  of  soul  which  strove  to  find  expression 
for  those  new  currents  of  thought  and  feeling  that  came 
to  the  surface  in  later  Judaism.  Following  the  decadence 
of  prophecy  it  belonged  to  the  period  of  Jewish  oppres- 
sion, and  voiced  the  heart-cry  of  a  people  true  to  God 
in  the  midst  of  national  distress.  Though  anticipated  in 
fragmentary  parts  of  earlier  prophecies,  as  in  Ezekiel 
and  Zechariah,  the  style  of  Apocalyptic  first  found  defi- 
nite form  in  the  book  of  Daniel,  which  became  the  type 
of  all  subsequent  writings  of  this  class  that  flourished 
so  abundantly  in  the  two  centuries  preceding  and  the 
century  following  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 
Couched  in  language  that  is  characteristically  figurative 
and  symbolical  the  literary  form  is  at  once  marked  and 
significant,  and  reached  its  highest  development  in  the 
canonical  Apocalypse  which  has  given  name  to  the  whole 
class.  The  essential  limitations  of  this  class  of  litera- 
ture are  clearly  recognizable;  its  ideas  move  within  a 
narrow  range,  its  point  of  view  is  sombre  and  unequal, 
and  its  center  of  interest  is  mainly  eschatological.  It 
occupies  a  sphere  peculiarly  its  own,  a  world  of  pious 
and  often  fantastic  dreams — 'for  prophecy  as  it  lost  its 
footing  on  the  solid  earth  took  refuge  in  the  clouds ';2 
it  wrote  the  word  mystery  large  across  its  page,  and  rev- 
elled in  the  weird  and  shadowy;  but  beneath  its  peculiar 
phantasy  lay  a  profound  religious  motive — it  sought  to 
stay  the  troubled  souls  of  men  in  time  of  storm,  and  in  its 
deeper  purpose  strove  to  reconcile  the  righteousness  of 
God  with  the  sufferings  of  his  people.  In  the  form  of 
strange  and  sometimes  even  grotesque  symbolic  visions — 
thought  couched  in  symbols  burning  and  vivid,  which 
no  other  figure  of  speech  could  so  well  convey — and  un- 
der  the  name  of  some  hero  of  the  past,  it  sketched  in 

^For  a  list  of  authorities  on  Apocalyptic  see  notp  under  heading  of  'The 
I'orm,'  in  the  Introduction  to  this  volume.  At  this  point  the  author  feels  con- 
strained to  say  that  the  account  of  Apocalyptic  Literature  here  given  reflects 
so  largely  the  opinions  of  others  that  it  must  be  regarded,  like  much  else  In 
the  book,  as  an  effort  to  present  concisely  and  in  his  own  way  the  best  that 
has  been  said  upon  the  subject  by  many  others  who  are  more  qualified  to  speak. 

^Bacon,  Intr.   to  New   Tent.,  p.   232. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    255 

outline  a  history  of  the  world,  the  origin  of  evil,  the  fu- 
ture victory  of  righteousness,  and  the  final  consummation 
of  all  things  through  which  alone,  according  to  the 
Apocalyptic  view,  the  providential  rule  of  God  could  be 
vindicated. 

There  still  exists  a  not  inconsiderable  remnant  of 
this  very  interesting  literature,  though  the  greater  por- 
tion has  perished  in  the  wreckage  of  time.  The  principal 
books  still  extant  are  the  Apocaplypse  of  Baruch;  the 
Ethiopic  and  Slavonic  Boohs  of  Enoch;  the  Ascension 
of  Isaiah  ;the  Book  of  Jubilees  ;the  Assumption  of  Moses ; 
the  Testaments  of  the  XII  Patriarchs;  Second  Esdras 
(known  also  as  Fourth  Ezra);  the  Psalms  of  Solomon; 
and  the  Sibylline  Oracles.  The  late  recovery  of  some  of 
these  from  apparent  oblivion  is  a  matter  of  history,  and 
their  recension  and  translation  by  European  and  Ameri- 
can scholars  is  not  without  interest  to  the  general  stu- 
dent. The  study  of  this  literature  as  a  distinct  class 
is  one  of  the  notable  contributions  to  knowledge  by  the 
modern  critical  school.  These  Jewish  Apocalypses  were 
widely  read  in  their  day,  and  they  both  partook  of 
and  leavened  the  thought  of  their  time,  for  they  in- 
corporated and  expressed  the  current  mysterious  hopes 
and  beliefs  of  the  people.  Their  influence  is  distinctly 
traceable  in  the  diction  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the 
Booh  of  Enoch  is  obviously  quoted  in  the  Epistle  of 
Jude.  These  works  ranked  very  high  with  the  primi- 
tive Christians,  and  this  led  to  their  being  reedited  by 
early  Christian  writers,  and,  it  is  generally  thought,  to 
the  interpolation  of  later  ideas.  There  is,  however,  a 
very  wide  variation  of  opinion  concerning  the  extent 
to  which  changes  have  been  introduced,  and  this  is  one  of 
the  puzzling  questions  that  confronts  the  textual  critic. 
Then,  also,  beside  these  changes  in  the  older  books,  a 
new  series  of  Christian  Apocalypses  sprang  up,  influ- 
enced no  doubt  by  the  Apocalypse  of  John.  A  consider- 
able number  of  these  have  survived,  such  as  the  Apoc- 
alypse of  Peter,  of  Paul,  Thomas,  Stephen,  Cerinthus 
and  others,  but  the  greater  portion  have  been  lost,  and 
those  we  have  are  decidedly  inferior  both  in  style  and 
conception  to  the  earlier  Jewish  works  of  which  they 
are  a  feeble  imitation. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  the  conditions  of 
mind  and  thought  that  gave  rise  to  such  a  literature. 


256    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

In  itself  it  affords  an  interesting  psychological  study. 
The  Oriental  is  a  mystic  by  nature,  and  many  of  his 
ways  of  thinking  can  never  be  quite  clear  to  the  Western 
mind.  The  Jew  in  times  past  was  the  great  figure  of 
the  Orient,  as  he  has  also  been  well  named  'the  most 
commanding  figure  in  history';  for  whatever  he  may 
now  be,  the  Hebrew  which  we  find  in  his  literature 
is  enveloped  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  East.  The  He- 
brew writers  as  a  class  are  unique.  Although  devoid  in 
a  large  measure  of  the  humanistic  idea  of  literature 
for  its  own  sake,  they  yet  subserved  the  truest  aim  in 
that  they  brought  to  the  surface  and  made  verbal  those 
deeper  tides  of  thought  and  feeling  which  move  and 
flow  in  the  universal  heart,  those  wide-spread  and  en- 
during currents  Avhich  they  instinctively  felt  were 
shared  by  the  men  of  their  own  generation.  Writing  only 
for  a  religious  purpose,  and  because  they  had  a  mes- 
sage for  life,  the  development  of  their  thought-forms 
was  more  or  less  incidental,  and  was  the  product  alike 
of  the  man,  his  religion,  and  his  environment.  So  that 
while  we  especially  emphasize  the  national  conditions 
which  contributed  so  largely  to  the  birth  of  this  liter- 
ary form,  we  should  not  forget  that  behind  all  that 
which  was  temporary  and  passing  lay  the  Semitic  mind 
and  the  Mosaic  cult. 

The  rise  of  Apocalyptic  marks  a  transition  stage  in 
the  development  of  Hebrew  thought  that  is  of  momen- 
tous significance,  for  it  led  to  clearer  views  of  immor- 
tality, and  truer  conceptions  of  God's  relation  to  the 
world  of  men,  as  well  as  to  a  distinct  clarifying  of  the 
Messianic  hope.  Its  deeper  roots  are  found  in  the  fail- 
ure of  prophecy.  No  living  voice  was  heard  among  the 
people  speaking  for  God  as  in  former  days.  Prophecy 
had  grown  senile  and  was  in  decay;  it  had  become  a 
thing  of  the  past,  and  in  its  place  had  followed  the 
scholastic  work  of  the  scribes,  mechanically  interpret- 
ing the  messages  of  old.  But,  as  is  pointed  out  by 
Charles,  'Scribism  could  not  satisfy  the  aspirations 
of  the  nation:  it  represented  an  unproductive  age  of 
criticism,  following  a  productive  age  of  prophetic  gen- 
ius.' And  Apocalyptic  was  the  spontaneous  outcry  of 
a  heart-hunger  which  refused  to  be  fed  on  the  barren 
husks  of  labored  interpretation  served  up  by  the 
scribes.    It  was  in  the  true  line  of  succession  to  proph- 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    257 

ecy,  and  though  it  fell  far  behind  the  prophetic  mes- 
sage both  in  its  form  and  content,  and  was  even  feeble 
in  comparison,  yet,  as  Charles  has  said,  'It  attested  be- 
yond doubt  the  reappearance  of  spiritual  genius  in  the 
field  of  thought  and  action.'  There  is  assuredly  some- 
thing that  is  profoundly  pathetic  in  this  deep  heart- 
cry  of  the  Jewish  people  which  rings  mournfully  out 
of  the  far  past;  for  even  at  this  remote  distance  of 
time  and  space  we  cannot  read  without  emotion  their 
enduring  record  of  sorrow  and  suffering,  of  longing  and 
hope,  if  we  share  at  all  in  the  wider  world  of  religious  ex- 
perience.^ 

The  apocalyptists  were  evidently  conscious  that 
they  had  no  new  message  for  their  generation,  and  this 
conviction  led  to  certain  well-defined  results.  First  of 
all  they  fell  back  upon  the  old  message  for  most  of 
their  ideas;  but  with  singular  skill  they  contrived  to 
present  them  in  new  form.  The  essential  elements  of 
their  thought  were  taken  from  the  Old  Testament  proph- 
ecies, while  the  material  framework  was  drawn  from 
without.  They  attempted  in  their  own  way  to  develop 
an  esoteric  meaning  in  the  prophecies  of  the  past,  and 
for  this  purpose  called  to  their  aid  the  bold  and  strik- 
ing imagery  of  the  Eastern  mind.  They  laid  under  con- 
tribution the  luxuriant  symbols  of  Babylon,  Persia,  and 
the  surrounding  nations;  they  gathered  the  rarest  fig- 
ures from  the  accumulated  stores  of  poetry,  art,  and 
religion;  and  then  with  a  fertile  fancy  they  interwove 
these  all  in  the  fantastic  fabric  of  their  dreams.  Then, 
again,  they  hid  their  own  personality,  and  masked  un- 
der the  name  of  some  great  religious  hero  of  the  past. 
Enoch  and  Moses,  Isaiah  and  Baruch,  served  as  a  thin 
disguise  for  the  real  authors  who  remained  unknown, — 
for  the  Apocalyptic  writings  are  all  pseudonymous  so 
far  as  known,  with  the  apparent  exception  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse  of  John,  and  the  Shepherd  of  Hennas, — and 
yet  we  cannot  say  that  there  was  any  real  motive  of 
deception  in  this,  if  we  take  into  account  the  views  of 
authorship  which  then  prevailed,  for  'the  ethical  no- 
tion of  literary  property  is  a  plant  of  modern  growth'.^ 

The  fashioning  of  Apocalyptic  was  influenced  by 
many  different  causes,  but  the  most  marked  and  signif- 

''It  has  been  too  readily  assumed  that  these  books  are  wholly  without 
•evidences  of  the  Divine  Spirit  leading  on  to  Christ.'  '  Fairweather,  art.  'Develop- 
ment of  Doctr.  in  Apoc.  Period..'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib.,  vol.   5. 

=.Tiilicher,  Inir.  to  New  Test.,  p.   52. 


258    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

icant  of  them  all  is  to  be  found  in  the  existing  national 
conditions  of  the  time.  By  the  captivity  in  Babylon  Ju- 
dah  had  been  brought  within  the  sweep  of  the  great 
tide  of  history;  the  world  became  vaster;  prophecy  had 
a  new  and  broader  outlook,  and  its  thought  was  for- 
ever after  interpenetrated  by  an  element  of  Apocalyp- 
tic. The  strange  figures  of  Babylonian  imagery  were 
absorbed  by  the  Hebrew  mind,  and  enshrined  in  their 
subsequent  literature.  On  the  other  hand  the  nation 
itself  was  in  decay;  the  power  of  the  past  had  been 
broken  and  destroyed;  and  'it  was  terror  and  oppres- 
sion', in  good  part  at  least,  as  Stevens  has  well  said, 
'that  gave  this  new  trend  to  their  thought'.  They  had 
drunk  deeply  of  the  bitter  cup  of  national  distress;  the 
encroachment  of  the  world-empires  had  envenomed  the 
past,  embittered  the  present,  and  overshadowed  the  fu- 
ture; the  glorious  promises  of  God  had  thus  far  failed 
of  any  substantial  realization,  and  the  contrast  between 
promise  and  fulfilment  was  too  wide  to  be  overlooked. 
But  the  Hebrew  with  sublime  courage  did  not  lose  faith 
in  God  because  of  the  delay.  Apocalyptic  voiced  his 
answer  to  the  problems  of  the  time,  and  it,  like  Proph- 
ecy and  the  Wisdom  Literature,  was  rooted  in  cer- 
tain ethical  conceptions  which  are  fundamental  to  its 
thought,  such  as  that  God  is  holy,  that  the  world  in 
which  we  live  is  a  moral  world,  and  that  righteousness 
must  win.^  And  this  gave  to  the  apocalypsist  his 
theme: — the  Fortunes  of  the  Kingdom  of  Gocl,  and  how 
they  are  to  be  reconciled  with  all  that  God  has  said;  for 
God  must  be  vindicated,  he  is  forever  true,  and  his 
word  cannot  fail.  This  thesis  was  maintained  in  two 
ways.  First,  by  attempting  a  wider  view  of  the  problem 
of  sin  and  righteousness.  That  became  the  ques- 
tion no  longer  of  a  single  nation,  but  of  the  whole 
race — for  under  the  stimulus  of  new  and  wider  conditions, 
a  great  enlargement  of  the  Hebrew  spirit  took  place. 
There  must  be  a  providential  and  moral  order  in  the  uni- 
verse which  if  sought  out  will  give  the  true  meaning  of 
history.  The  divine  purpose  must  be  interpreted  through 
the  broader  sphere  of  the  world's  life.  This  standpoint 
had  now  become  possible  through  the  wider  world-view 
produced  in  later  Judaism  by  contact  and  intercourse 
with  other  nations.  And  thus  Apocalyptic  came  to  ex- 

I'The    fundnmcntal    idea    is    the    moral   one.  ..  .the   basis   of   tlie    religious    is 
ethical.'     Sie  art.  'Escbatol.'  by  Davidson,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    259 

press  both  a  deeply  wrought  theodicy  and  a  Semitic 
philosophy  of  history.  Second,  the  apocalyptist  com- 
pleted his  vindication  of  Grod  by  shifting  the  center  of 
attention  from  the  present  to  the  future.  The  more  cer- 
tain it  became  that  no  present  realization  of  his  hopes 
was  possible,  the  more  surely  he  turned  to  a  future  age 
that  would  abundantly  recompense  all  the  pain  and  disap- 
pointment of  the  past.  It  was  this  that  made  the  out- 
look of  Apocalyptic  essentially  eschatological.  Begin- 
ning with  the  history  of  the  past  veiled  under  the  form 
cf  prophecy,  the  apocalyptist  rushes  on  to  predict  the 
future,  for  there  he  finds  the  victory.  The  End!  The 
End!  is  his  cry, — the  End  that  victory  may  come — for 
God  is  to  be  vindicated  only  by  the  consummation  of 
all  things,  and  history  can  only  be  read  aright  in  the 
light  of  its  finalit}^  The  answer  of  the  End  is  the  key 
that  Apocalyptic  offers  to  the  mystery  of  all  that  'which 
was  and  is  and  is  to  come' ;  and  it  is  this  persistent  effort 
to  read  the  mind  of  God  concerning  the  future 
that  gives  to  Apocalyptic  an  element  of  peculiar  inter- 
est. For  though  it  is  often  like  the  voice  of  'an  in- 
fant cryin,g  in  the  night*  *  *  *and  with  no  language 
but  a  cry',  it  has  yet  a  deep  significance  all  its  own; 
it  was  a  form  of  thought  by  which  God  led  his  people 
into  clearer  views  of  truth,  and  to  new  and  larger  vi- 
sion.^ Upon  the  other  hand  the  shifting-point  in  every 
apocalypse  from  history  to  prediction  can  usually  be 
made  out  without  essential  effort;  for  beneath  the  form 
of  symbols  and  symbolic  actions  can  ordinarily  be 
discovered  the  chief  actors  and  principal  events  of  the 
past  and  present  which  correspond  to  history;  while 
the  things  of  the  future  which  are  predicted,  reach  out 
at  once  to  extravagant  proportions.  Thus  each  Jewish 
apocalypse  by  its  content  and  movement,  serves  to 
mark  out  its  own  horizon  and  reveal  its  own  environ- 
ment. 

The  general  prevalence  of  the  Apocalyptic  form  in 
the  period  in  which  it  was  used  may  be  accounted  for 

^•If  wo  couki  fj:i-asi)  the  iindprlyini;  faiths  that  havo  clothed  themsolves  in 
these  strange  forms,  faith  in  the  kingship  of  God,  and  the  sure  triumph  of  good 
over  evil,  and  the  heavenly  blessedness  of  those  who  hold  to  God's  side  amid 
whatever  shame  and  abuse  and  in  the  face  of  death  ;  if  through  the  peculiar 
imagery  and  obscure  symbolism  of  the  books  we  could  feel  the  power  of  the  un- 
seen world  and  gain  a  fresh  sense  of  its  reality,  then  this  use,  call  it  literary, 
or  call  it  devotional,  would  be  the  best  use  to  which  the  books  could  be  put,  and 
even  most  in  accordance  with  the  highest  mood  and  real  purpose  of  their 
writers."   Porter,   Mess,   of  Apoc.   Writers,  Pref.,   p.   xiii. 


260    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

partly  by  its  suitability  to  the  theme  which  it  treated, 
and  partly  by  the  prevailing  conditions  of  national  sur- 
veillance. Its  visions  and  symbols  and  dream-move- 
ment were  peculiarly  adapted  to  meet  the  conditions  of 
a  writing  which  did  not  dare  to  make  plain  its  bitter  re- 
proaches of  the  foes  of  Israel.  Its  hidden  meaning, 
also,  answered  well  to  hint  darkly  what  lay  in  the  fu- 
ture ;  and  its  fantastic  imagery  appealed  to  the  imagina- 
tion.^ The  pervasive  element  of  mystery  served  to  in- 
vest these  writings  with  a  subtle  charm  that  all  the  in- 
tervening lapse  of  centuries  and  even  the  present 
temper  of  a  scientific  age  have  wholly  failed  to  dissi- 
pate. The  effort  of  most  modern  Jewish  scholars  to 
attribute  the  Apocalyptic  Literature  to  Essenism  cannot 
be  sustained;  neither  can  we  accept  the  gratuitous 
assertion  of  Montefiore,  that  'the  Apocalyptic  writings 
lie  for  the  most  part  outside  the  line  of  the  purest 
Jewish  development'.  Schiirer  and  Charles  reflect  the 
opinion  of  the  majority  of  Christian  scholars  in  main- 
taining its  nearer  relation  to  Phariseeism,  though 
admitting  it  to  be  'a  product  of  free  religious  thought 
following  older  models',  and  showing  distinctive  marks 
of  Phariseeism  in  some  of  its  parts  and  of  Sadduceeism 
in  others.  At  the  same  time  most  authorities  are  will- 
ing to  grant  the  probability  of  Wellhausen 's  suggestion, 
that  'the  secret  literature  of  the  Essenes  was  perhaps  in 
no  small  degree  made  use  of  in  the  Pseudepigrapha,  and 
has  through  them  been  indirectly  handed  down  to  us'. 
The  value  of  Apocalyptic  is  increasingly  recognized 
as  a  storehouse  of  Jewish  and  Jewish-Christian  thought 
in  the  age  preceding  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  Chris- 
tian era.  It  forms  the  necessary  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  and  is  especially 
rich  in  messianic  and  eschatological  conceptions.  It  is 
the  chief  source  of  information  through  which  we  can 
trace  the  changes  that  occurred  in  Jewish  belief,  and  the 
later  development  of  Jewish  thought,  in  the  period  im- 
mediately preceding  the  time  of  Christ.  It  carries  us 
back,  in  effect,  to  the  thought-world  of  the  first  century, 
and  enables  us,  as  Schiirer  aptly  says,  'to  reconstruct 
the  thought,  the  aspiration,  and  the  hopes  of  pious  Jews 

^'In  this  weird  world  of  fantasy,  peopled  by  a  rich  Oriental  imagination 
with  spectral  shapes  and  uncouth  figures,  where  angels  flit,  eagles  and  altars 
speak,  and  monsters  rise  from  sea  and  land — in  a  world  of  this  kind  many 
Asiatic  Christians  of  that  age  evidently  were  at  home,  and  there  the  prophet's 
message  had  to  find  them.'  Moffatt.  Exp.  Or.  Test.,  Rev.,  Intr.,  p.  301. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    261 

in  the  generation  that  first  heard  the  gospel,  and  even 
of  the  Apostles  themselves;  for  however  Christ's 
thought  transcended  the  thought  of  his  time,  that  of  the 
Apostles  did  not,  except  so  far  as  the  Holy  Spirit 
illumined  them  for  special  ends.'  And,  as  Charles  re- 
marks, 'If  the  Apocalypses  were  edited  later  they  only 
reflect  more  fully  the  thought  of  that  age,  and  they  ex- 
hibit what  is  subsumed  throughout  in  Christ's  teach- 
ings.' We  can  see  in  these  writings  not  only  a  transi- 
tion stage  in  Judaism  preparatory  to  the  gospel,  but 
how  this  modified  Jewish  thought  fits  in  with  the  gospel 
teaching.  They  show,  for  example,  how  the  Old  Testa- 
ment idea  of  the  future  life  grew  in  depth  and  compass 
in  those  centuries  which  precede  the  Christian  era;  and 
how  this  advance  was  retained  and  enlarged,  modified 
and  exalted,  by  Christ  himself  and  by  the  Apostles ;  and 
how,  also,  the  expansive  growth  of  the  messianic  hope, 
which  was  sometimes  almost  wholly  submerged,  but 
which  always  contrived  to  reappear  with  increasing 
clearness,  contributed  to  that  popular  expectancy, 
though  in  some  degree  also  to  that  general  misappre- 
hension, of  the  Messiah's  mission  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment everywhere  reveals.  And  they  enable  us  to  appre- 
ciate how  the  divine  method  of  gradual  advance  in 
spiritual  knowledge  was  operating  during  those  preven- 
ing  centuries  which  have  so  often  been  regarded  as 
barren  and  fruitless;  and  how  this  advance  contributed 
its  due  proportion  to  the  marvellous  results  attained  in 
the  life  of  our  blessed  Lord  and  in  the  period  of  the 
apostolic  church.  The  force  of  this  conclusion  is,  of. 
course,  partially  annulled  if  we  assume,  as  has  been 
done  by  some,  that  many  of  the  clearer  messianic  refer- 
ences in  the  Apocalyptic  writings  are  Christian  inter- 
polations. But  the  present  tendency  of  critics  is 
toward  a  less  destructive  view  than  formerly  prevailed. 
Charles,  for  example,  maintains  that  the  possibilities  of 
Jewish  thought  should  be  given  full  scope,  and  nothing 
attributed  to  Christian  interpolation,  or  to  Persian  or 
other  external  origin,  except  that  which  cannot  be  rea- 
sonably accounted  for  from  Jewish  sources.  The 
general  independence  of  Israel's  religious  development 
has  certainly  come  out  more  clearly  from  the  investiga- 
tion. As  has  been  pointed  out  by  Fairweather,  'With 
the  exception  of  certain  modes  of  thought  and  expres- 


262    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  EEVELATION. 

sion,  including  the  visionary  style  so  much  employed  by 
Ezekiel,  the  patriotic  Jew  apparently  brought  Isack  with 

him  from  Babylon  no  new  literary  possession Many 

scholars  explain  the  eschatological  development  of  the 
Apocryphal  period  on  the  theory  of  the  contact  of  Juda- 
ism   with    foreign    systems    of    thought But,    as 

Nicolas  has  said,  'Ideas  do  not  pass  ready  made  and 
complete  from  one  nation  to  another  like  the  fruits  of 
industry  which  are  transported  in  caravans.'. ..  .There 
may  be,  however,  stimulus  without  transference,  and 
this  appears  to  be  w^hat  really  happened  in  the  case  be- 
fore us.'^ 

The  Apocalyptic  Literature  undoubtedly  served  a 
splendid  purpose,  for  its  effects  were  both  wide-spread 
and  in  many  respects  beneficial.  It  served  to  rebuke 
sin,  to  maintain  righteousness  without  any  present  pros- 
pect of  reward,  to  keep  alive  the  rich  hopes  of  the  fu- 
ture, to  comfort  God's  children  in  the  midst  of  distress, 
and  to  cultivate  a  patriotic  spirit  that  cherished  the 
nobler  ideals  of  the  past;  while  at  the  same  time  it 
formed  a  secure  depository  for  those  new  concepts  of 
truth  that  sprang  up  during  the  long  era  of  preparation 
for  the  Messiah,  and  it  thereby  contributed  a  rich  quota 
of  thought  and  phrase  to  that  greater  future  which  was 
then  drawing  near  to  its  birth.  'In  general  Apocalyptic 
furnishes  the  atmosphere  of  the  New  Testament.  Its 
form,   its   language,   and   its   material   are    extensively 

used The  simplest  way  to  describe  the  relation  is  to 

say  that  Jesus  and  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
found  the  forms  of  thought  made  use  of  in  Apocalyptic 
Literature  convenient  vehicles,  and  have  cast  the  gospel 
of  God's  redemptive  love  into  these  as  into  moulds. 
The  Messianism  of  the  apocalyptists  has  thus  become 
unfolded  into  the  Christology  of  the  New  Testament. '^ 
But  upon  the  other  hand  Apocalyptic  reveals  a  type  of 
thought  that  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  healthful.  It 
had  no  deep  or  abiding  sympathy  with  the  great  over- 
shadowing world-sorrow  which  it  measurably  appre- 
hended, and  it  proposed  no  present  remedy  for  the  un- 
happy fortunes  of  Judaism.  It  dealt  too  largely  with 
the  future  hopes  of  the  nation,  and  did  not  like  prophecy 
address  itself  to  the  immediate  possibilities  of  the  pres- 

'See    art.    'Development    of    Doctrine    in    the    Apocryphal    Period,'    Hastings' 
Diet,  of  Bib.,  vol.  5  ;  also  art.  'Zoroasterism'  by  Moulton,  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Bib. 
^Zenos,  art.  'Apoc.  Lit.,'  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Christ  and  the  Gospels. 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    283 

ent;  and  it  thereby  robbed  life  of  one  of  its  chief  incen- 
tives to  action,  viz.  the  hope  of  present  success.  For  it 
gave  up  hope  of  the  world  as  it  was,  and  thereby  pro- 
duced a  world-despair  that  could  not  be  counteracted  by 
the  prospective  world-joy  which  glowed  in  the  messianic 
promise.  According  to  Apocalyptic  perspective,  Hhe 
present  served  mainly  as  a  back-ground  of  shadow  for 
developing  the  richer  light  of  the  coming  age;'  and,  'the 
proper  design  of  the  world  was  to  be  found  in  its  ending 
and  not  in  its  longer  continuance. '  Even  with  the  wider 
world-view  which  the  apocalyptists  possessed,  his- 
tory lost  its  value;  for  they  at  least  partially  misread 
the  providential  order  of  the  world.  As  Stevens  has 
forcibly  said,  they  'viewed  the  method  of  God  as  ictic 
and  sudden,  and  not  detailed  and  patient', — the  very 
opposite  of  the  divine  method  in  history.  And  such  an 
interpretation  of  life  produced  its  inevitable  results  in 
dreams  of  an  hallucinary  but  impossible  future.  It  de- 
veloped and  cultured  a  form  of  mysticism  that  has  left 
a  permanent  impression  upon  the  Christian  church — a 
mysticism  that  takes  refuge  from  present  evils,  and 
from  worse  that  are  deemed  impending,  in  the  hope  of 
an  ultimate  and  protracted  future  of  blessing  wrought 
by  cataclysmic  revolutions,  and  leading  up  to  a  new 
manifestation  of  the  divine  Person  upon  earth,  and  to 
new  conditions  of  life  in  the  world  of  nature.^  For  it 
is  in  Apocalyptic  rather  than  in  Scripture  that  we  find 
the  source  of  that  pessimistic  view  which  has  prevailed 
in  various  circles  of  the  church  in  all  ages,  that  looks 
for  the  world  to  grow  continually  worse  as  the  centuries 
go  on,  until  by  a  great  climax  of  the  future  a  new  order 
of  things  shall  be  introduced  that  is  essentially  differ- 
ent in  its  divine  manifestations  and  in  its  spirifual 
ordering  from  all  the  past.  But  notwithstanding  the 
many  defects  of  this  class  of  writings,  and  their  mani- 
fest extravagancies,  they  were  yet  divinely  used,  and 
evidently  filled  an  exceptionally  large  place  in  the  far- 
reaching  providential  plan  of  God  for  the  education  of 
the  Jewish  nation,  and  through  them  of  the  world,  just 
as  God  is  ever  using  human  and  imperfect  means  for 
wise  and  beneficent  ends. 

^'The  deus  ex  machina,  an  abnormal  and  effectual  interposition  of  God,  is 
an  essential  feature  of  an  apocalypse.'  Humphries,  8t  John  and  Other  Teachers, 
p.  82. 


264    STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 

The  importance  of  some  knowledge  of  Apocalyptic 
to  the  student  of  John's  Revelation  cannot  well  be 
overestimated,  for  it  is  only  in  the  light  of  Apocalyptic 
Literature  that  it  can  be  rightly  interpreted.  It  repro- 
duces the  author's  native  horizon,  and  reveals  the 
sources  of  his  mode  of  thought;  it  provides  the  key  to 
the  method  of  vision  and  symbol  and  dream-movement; 
and  it  makes  clear  the  inevitable  limitations  as  well  as 
the  recognized  possibilities  of  this  unique  style  when  it 
becomes  the  vehicle  of  a  true  instead  of  an  assumed 
revelation.  For  although  the  source  of  much  of  the 
imagery  of  the  Apocalypse  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old 
Testament,  yet  it  is  often  materially  changed  by  passing 
through  the  medium  of  later  Jewish  thought  as  reflected 
in  the  Pseudepigrapha ;  and  although  New  Testament 
ideas  everywhere  prevail  in,  through,  and  above,  those 
of  the  Old,  yet  the  whole  spirit  and  movement  of  the 
Apocalypse  is  moulded  by  certain  underlying  pre-Chris- 
tian conceptions  that  belong  to  Jewish  Apocalyptic. 
We  find,  for  example,  that  the  divine  method  in  history 
is  uniformly  viewed  as  in  the  Apocalyptic  Literature, 
and  contrary  to  general  experience,  as  chiefly  one  of 
crisis  and  catastrophe  rather  than  of  gradual  develop- 
ment— the  sudden  and  striking  hiding  from  view  the 
continued  and  ordinary.  And  we  cannot  but  inquire 
how  far  this  conception  is  with  John  the  result  of 
literary  form  and  spiritual  mood,  rather  than  intended 
to  set  forth  the  intimate  nature  of  the  divine  method; 
and  how  far  it  is  designed  to  portray  vividly  the  effects 
to  be  accomplished,  rather  than  to  signify  the  manner  of 
their  accomplishment.  We  find,  too,  that  John,  in 
common  with  the  apocalyptists,  dwells  more  upon  the 
future  hopes  of  the  kingdom  than  upon  its  present 
possibilities,  keeping  his  eye  ever  fixed  above  the  con- 
flict upon  the  far  future  of  promise.  And  we  cannot 
but  inquire  how  far  this  aspect  of  his  world-view  was 
divinely  designed  as  a  message  of  comfort  to  a  people 
in  distress,  rather  than  as  a  comprehensive  presentation 
of  the  progressive  w^orld-plan  of  the  ages;  and  how  far 
it  is  given  only  as  one  point  of  view,  rather  than  as  de- 
signed to  express  the  fulness  of  the  divine  purpose. 
To  these  inquiries  there  can  properly  be  but  one  answer, 
the  view-point  is  characteristic  of  and  peculiar  to 
Apocalyptic.     It  does  not  present  the  normal  aspect  of 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  REVELATION.    265 

life ;  it  is  the  product  of  adverse  conditions  and  breathes 
the  spirit  of  pain;  its  vision  is  forever  saddened  by  the 
overwhelming  world-sorrow  that  darkens  the  horizon  of 
thought.  And  while  all  Hebrew  literature  is  essentially 
grave,  and  devoid  of  the  element  of  humor,  yet  Apoca- 
lyptic is  abidingly  overshadowed  by  a  weight  of  world- 
woe  from  which  men  seek  to  escape  into  another  sphere 
and  into  new  and  better  conditions  of  life. 

The  larger  study  of  Apocalyptic  Literature  must 
continue  to  have  its  effect  upon  the  interpretation  of  the 
Apocalypse  which  is  indisputably  its  greatest  master- 
piece. For  by  attentive  consideration  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  this  form  of  composition  we  are  gradually  led  to 
perceive  that  only  in  so  far  as  we  invest  ourselves  with 
the  atmosphere  which  produced  so  strange  a  coloring  of 
thought,  can  we  hope  to  interpret  aright  that  peculiar 
view  of  the  world,  growing  out  of  the  conditions  of 
Jewish  depression,  which  regards  it  as  the  arena  of  an 
all-pervasive  conflict,  and  involved  in  prevailing  sin  and 
suffering,  in  order  that  through  these  seemingly  adverse 
experiences  it  may  by  sovereign  control  be  divinely 
made  ready  for  the  future  glory  of  the  Messiah's  king- 
dom. And  we  are  thus  amply  assured  that  a  correct 
apprehension  of  the  form  and  fashion  of  Apocalyptic 
thought  will  undoubtedly  guide  us  in  all  that  pertains 
to  the  material  framework  of  the  Apocalypse,  though 
certainly  we  should  not  forget  that  we  must  always  go 
to  the  Old  Testament  and  to  the  New  when  we  would 
reach  its  inner  heart.  The  present  general  consensus  of 
opinion  among  modern  scholars,  therefore,  seems  to  be, 
that  having  measurably  exhausted  inquiry  concerning 
the  Old  Testament  references,  whatever  progress  we 
are  to  make  in  the  immediate  future  in  unfolding  the 
thought  of  the  Revelation  must  be  through  a  further 
study  of  the  thought-forms  of  the  century  that  gave  it 
birth,  which  so  richly  abound  in  the  Apocalj^ptic  writings, 
but  which  so  long  escaped  the  scholarly  and  attentive 
consideration  of  Christian  thought. 


266    STUDIES  in  tJie  BOOK  OF  REVELATION. 


Appendix  H 

Key-Words  and  Phrases  in  the  Revelation 


The  Saints 
The  Sealed 
The  Saved 
The  Redeemed 

Holy — True — Faithful — Pure 
Glorious— New — White — Golden 
Salvation — Power — Glory — Honor 
Blessing — Wisdom — Truth — Patience 
Worship — Prayers — Song — Thanks- 
givings 
Watch — Keep — Witness — Overcome 

Victory — Rej  oice — Serve — Reign 
Kingdom — Thrones — Crowns — 

Dominion 
Light — Peace — Rest — Li  f  e 

Unto  the  Ages  of  the  Ages 


They  that  Dwell  on  the  Earth 
They  that  Worship  the  Beast 
The  Tribes  of  the  Earth 
The  Rest  of  Mankind 

Unholy — False — Unbelieving — Unclean 
Wretched — Destroyed — Filthy — Drunken 
Sins — Plagues — Woe — Defilement 
Wrath— Deceived — False — Affrighted 
Idolatry — Blasphemy — Weeping — 

Mourning 
Fornication — Wantonness — Sorcery — 

Judgment 
Fallen — Fearful — Cast-out — Taken 
Thunder — Lightnings — Hail — Earth- 
quake 
Darkness — Anguish — Torment — Death 
Unto  the  Ages  of  the  Ages 


Hear — Repent — Come — Behold 
Shortly— Quickly— At-Hand— Now 
Great — Mighty — Strong — Powerful 
War — Sword — Bow — Crown 
Prophets — Priests — Kings — Apostles 
Angels — Spirits — Martyrs — Saints 


Candlesticks — Stars 


Who  Is  and  Who  Was  and  Who  Is 

to  Come 
The  Testimony  of  Jesus 
The  Seal  of  God 
Out  of  Heaven 
On  the  Cloud 
The  Sea  of  Glass 
The  Alpha  and  the  Omega 
The  Crown  of  Life 


That  Was  and  Is  Not  and  Shall  Come 

The  Worship  of  the  Beast 

The  Mark  of  the  Beast 

Out  of  the  Abyss 

On  the  Earth 

The  Lake  of  Fire 

About  To  Go  Into  Perdition 

The  Second  Death 


Mystery 


God 

Jesus  Christ 

The  Lamb 

The  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of  Tudah 

The  Word  of  God 

The  Son  of  Man 

The  Morning  Star 

The  Living  One 

He  that  Sitteth  on  the  Throne 

The  Ruler  of  the  Kings  of  the  Earth 

The  Seven  Spirits  of  God 

The  Saints 

Michael 

The  Bride 

Jerusalem 

The  Holy  City 

Mount  Zion 


Satan 

The  Devil 

The  Dragon 

The  Beast 

The  False  Prophet 

The  Old  Serpent 

The  Star  Fallen  from  Heaven 

Apollyon 

All  [the]  Nations 

The  King  of  the  Abyss 

The  Deceiver  of  the  Whole  World 

The  Inhabitants  of  the  Earth 

Gog  and  Magog 

The  Harlot 

Babylon 

The  Great  City 

The  Wilderness 


STUDIES  in  the  BOOK  OF  KEVELATION.    267 


Seven  Churches 

Seven  Seals 


Seven  Epistles 
Seven  Trumpets 


Seven  Vials 


The  Seven  Candlesticks 

The  Twelve  Stars 

The  Four  and  Twenty  Elders 

The  Hundred  and  Forty  and  Four 
Thousand 

The  Key  of  David 
The  Temple  of  God 
The  Altar 
The  Throne  of  God 
The  River  of  Life 


The  Seven  Heads  [of  the  Beast] 

The  Ten  Horns  [of  the  Beast] 

The  Three  Unclean  Spirits,  as  it  were 

Frogs 
The  Six  Hundred  and  Sixty  and  Six 

The  Key  of  the  Abyss 
The  Pit  of  the  Abyss 
The  Air 

The  Throne  of  the  Beast 
The  Great  River  Euphrates 


Har-magedon 
The  Thousand  Years 


Life  [and]  Resurrection 
The  First  Resurrection 


Death  and  Hades 
The  Second  Death 


The  Great  White  Throne 

The  Judgment 

The  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Earth 

For  Ever  and  Ever 


BEHOLD    HE    COMETH 

COME    LORD    JESUS 

AMEN 


As  Reliable  as  Readable 


As  Trustworthy  as  Timely 


The  Truth  About 
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Professor  of  Systematic  Theology 
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large  element  of  truth  underlying  this  cult;  truth  which  the  Church  recognized 
during  the  early  centuries  but  which  she  neglected  during  the  last  fifteen." — 
American  Church  Sunday  School  Magazine. 

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